41 out of 44 people found the following review helpful:
Wanting More?
MargaretM from from London,
13th October, 2008
I like period dramas and am always amazed by how directors can take today's world and transport it back in time for a film. The cars, clothes, boats, and especially the building interiors in the film are perfect. I am an avid cyclist and was delighted with all the old roadster bikes that were found to cycle around Oxford. 5 out of 5 for scenery. The characters are interesting. I haven't seen any of the tv show and was very surprised to find that one of the main actors was so queeny gay. I thought that England at the time would have been too conservative for such a character, but a friend explained that the sexual references were not so bold in the series, and that most of it was implied but never seen. The story is strong. The beginning is a bit rushed with flash-forwards and backwards; from the present in the army, to the near past in an art exhibition, then to 10 years previous starting college, all in a matter of minutes. After that though, the scenes settle down, and there is only a moderate amount of rushedness (college takes around 15 minutes ... i wish). When the film relaxes into the main body of the story, it is fantastic. The arrival of Emma Thompson as the overly-devoted religious mother, for me, is where the film takes off. She is wonderful at portraying the confusion of a woman who throws herself firmly into her beliefs, fleetingly trying to grasp why this is not creating the perfect life for her family, but otherwise unaware that she is forcing so much religious guilt from Catholic over-expectations on her children that they are all buckling under the pressure. Couple that with the hypocrisy of her being a divorcee with a husband living a life of adulterous sin in Venice, whom the children adore, and you have the confused and twisted setting for the family. I'll finish there as I don't want to include any spoilers, but suffice to say, it's worth a watch. I watched it with my Mom, who loved it (and even managed to stay awake for the whole thing ... a rare occurence) and my boyfriend who also enjoyed it, but probably thought there weren't enough ninjas. 4 out of 5 is a bit harsh as I thought it was wonderful, but the film got so close to perfection in the exploration of the strife of a confusing Catholic family environment, and then shied away from really thumping through to a magnificent conclusion, that I can't give the full 5.
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