A scene from British sci-fi comedy TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS. Courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment
TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS is a droll British sci-fi comedy is low budget, low key and low delivery, under-serving a high concept. Writer/director Chris Reading started with an amusing twist on the time-travel milieu. Two rather dim-witted women (Ruth Syratt and Megan Stevenson) who own a dowdy resale shop stumble across a small vehicle that was dumped in an alley by its disenchanted inventors, who never quite mastered its time-hopping capabilities. The ladies use it to snatch clothes and minor objects from earlier eras to upgrade the inventory of their failing business, filling the humble rented space to the rafters with relics of affordable consumer value. No heists. No cash grabs. Just stuff that wouldn’t be missed much by its owners.
The haul includes videotapes of a public-access version of Mr. Wizard starring two guys (Johnny Vegas and Kiell Smith-Bynoe) who happen to have been the machine’s inventors. They are now part of a club of eccentric wannabe inventors with what could have been a charming cast of oddballs. The right cast was in place, but without the right writing to let them shine.
Although the bones were there for a delightful romp, the script failed to deliver the goods. Some of the best-known actors – Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Jane Horrocks – were underutilized. What we end up with could have been called BILLIE AND TEDDIE’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE, if the temporal sojourners weren’t named Ruth and Megan. Their visits to earlier times, ranging from the age of dinosaurs to recent decades, are among the film’s best moments. But they were too small a percentage of the running time. One long sequence in a sort of time-warp limbo was intriguing – as if an ALICE IN WONDERLAND style of encounter had been written and directed by Terry Gilliam.
Budget limitations are obvious, and perhaps should be used to cut this production more slack. Time-travel shows are inherently fraught with logical issues, even when played for laughs. This one avoided some of the usual traps, but became more annoying than engaging as events unfolded. Too much petty quibbling among, and bad decisions by, the principals for entertainment value.
TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS opens in select theaters and on-demand on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025.
It has been a good, long run but DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE is the final bow for the British world of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants, which fans have followed through several seasons on British TV (and PBS here) and then three movies, which have continued the saga.
Series creator/writer Julian Fellowes followed up his successful film GOSFORD PARK and followed the lead of earlier British series “Upstairs, Downstairs” in crafting this tale of a likable noble family in Yorkshire and their equally appealing servants, but made it so much more, by following the changes in Britain in the early 20th century. Starting in 1912 and ending in 1930, the tale of the Crawley family is set in a period of great change in Britain for both the aristocratic class and, with expanding democracy and opportunities, for the people who worked for them.
So many things came together just right in this series to make it both entertaining and engrossing. Julian Fellowes’ great writing and historical research, and a great cast, made this combination of historic storytelling, family drama, and character-driver stories (spiked with plenty of humor) into a surprisingly enjoyable ride, even if costume drama is not your cup of tea. Add to that the incomparable late Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess, whose smart, snappy comebacks and biting, sharply observed comments, became the highlight of many an episode. The mostly British cast was outstanding, included American ex-pat Elizabeth McGovern and Hugh Bonneville, and launching the careers of Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens, and others. Plus there were all those fabulous British manor house locations and wonderful early 20th century fashions (especially in the 1920s), and it made for great escapist fun. The popular TV show was such a hit that the actual manor house where it was filmed, Highclere Castle, became a tourist destination.
But the time finally comes to say goodbye, and DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE is a good an exit as one could hope for. In this final chapter, the Crawley family is in a kind of holding pattern, as Lady Mary is poised to take over the estate from her father, Lord Grantham, Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), but with dad a bit reluctant to let go. But there is something else to deal with: visitors from America. Lady Grantham, Cora Crawley’s (Elizabeth McGovern) brother Harold Levinson (Paul Giamatti) has arrived from the States, with a friend Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola), a financial advisor of sorts, and some bad financial news. While the British Crawleys’ fortune survived the Crash, the brother has not done as well. The brother’s American companion is charming if bold, and is also in Britain to see his horse race at Ascot, while helping the brother with his financial mess after the stock market crash.
While the Crawley’s try to sort out Harold’s financial mess, there are subplots aplenty, with is a little scandal with Lady Mary, a truce of sorts from oft- battling sisters, and updates on all the characters’ lives. The story lets us check in with the family, daughters Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery) and Edith, Lady Hexham, and son-in-law Tom Branson (Allen Leech), as well as beloved servants, Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle), and butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) and housekeeper Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), and more. There are also returns of earlier characters who have gone on to other things, like Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier), now a theatrical director, and movie star Guy Dexter (Dominic West), who have arrived with playwright Noel Coward (Arty Froushan).
Fellowes weaves the story elements together well, and director Simon Curtis gives us plenty of eye candy with elegant fashions, particularly on Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary, and shots of gorgeous locations and period decor, as the aristocratic Crawley family makes the rounds of upper crust London, back home at Downton Abbey, and capped with a trip to Ascot. Meanwhile, the servants’ lives are working out well, with many set to retire to comfortable cottages and with their newfound spouses, and a country fair sequence near the end lets everyone mingle.
This final chapter captures all the charm of the series, TV and film, and even gives a grand outing at the Ascot races as a last big splashy fling, and ties up all the stories nicely. In fact, this third film is better than the last one as storytelling. The show’s creator Julian Fellowes cleverly sets this final chapter in 1930, not long after the stock market crash of October 1929 that began the Great Depression but before its effects are yet widely felt. That choice puts the characters in a comfortable bubble, where they are unaware of the economic hardships ahead, although viewers are aware that the old high life is coming to an end. The early 1930 time period allows the audience to enjoy a bit more of the fashions and fun of the Downton Abbey world before the darkness of the 1930s Great Depression really descends on their world.
While there are twists and surprises, some tight spots and difficult moments, enough to give the film some tension, things are generally tied up nicely by the story’s end, leaving the audience satisfied that the characters’ lives, while profoundly changed, will go on, with no need for a sequel.
DOWNTON ABBEY THE GRAND FINALE opens in theaters on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025.
Indira Varma, Olivia Williams, Alan Tudyk, Shirley Henderson, and Rufus Sewell, in THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA. Courtesy of Music Box Films
The British dark comedy THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA has trouble for all, in a satirical tale where a dinner party between old friends goes so very, very wrong. Director Matt Winn’s dark tale features a starry British cast, with Rufus Sewell, Shirley Henderson, Alan Tudyk and Olivia Williams, with Indira Varma as Jessica. The trouble with Jessica (Indira Varma) is that she is a lot of trouble, something which architect Tom (Alan Tudyk) and wife Sarah (Shirley Henderson) already have in abundance. And what happens when she comes to dinner is even more trouble. However, the film THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA has plenty of troubles of its own.
Tom and Sarah appear to have a comfortable life but they are in a terrible financial bind, due to a big architectural project that fell through, and now they are forced to sell their lovely London home. The good news is that they have found a buyer just in time to rescue them from financial disaster. The married couple are planning to have one last dinner party in their home before they must leave, with just their best friends, Richard (Rufus Sewell) and Beth (Olivia Williams), whom they have known since college.
But then Tom gets a phone call from Richard, asking if they can bring along another old friend from college, Jessica. Reluctantly, Tom agrees, optimistically hoping it is alright with wife Sarah. It’s not, but now they’re stuck. The trouble with beautiful Jessica is she is braggy and self-absorbed, and with her new book, a memoir, a bestseller, she’ll be more so. Plus, as Sarah complains, she always flirts with her husband Tom, although Tom points out Jessica flirts with everyone. But Tom has cooked plenty of food for another guest, including his signature special dessert, a clafoutis.
American audiences may not be familiar with this French dessert but it is a cherry, custard and sponge cake favorite featured on British baking shows, so anyone arriving in the house in this British dark comedy will recognize the tasty treat. And the appealing dessert becomes part of the plot.
The dinner guests arrive, and Jessica does flirt with both men and she does get on Sarah’s nerves. After a seemingly minor remark, Jessica leaves the table in a huff. When the dessert is brought out, someone eventually goes out into the back garden to check on her, where they find Jessica has hanged herself.
And this is where things get really weird. You would expect that finding that a long-time friend, no matter how much she irritates you, has committed suicide would create more of a emotional reaction, shock if not grief, in the friends that find her. And it does, but more briefly and less deeply than you would expect. That moment of shock, grief, even guilt, passes very quickly, although Beth, who is the more emotional one in the group and prone to moralizing too, holds on to is much longer, further into film.
There is something both unconvincing and creepy about the characters’ reactions to the suicide, reactions that would be cold even if she were a stranger. It makes the situation unconvincing and makes the characters seem unsympathetic as well.
The friends’ reaction is this: The suicide in shocking enough but doing it in someone else’s garden? Outrageous. Who does that? So inconsiderate because it creates special problems. Quickly, Sarah thinks of one special problem: will the suicide impact the sale of the house? Will the buyers back out because someone died there? Beth immediately chides Sarah for her coldness, but the others agree that it does seem likely to cause trouble. So Sarah hatches a plan: instead of calling the police or an ambulance, they move Jessica’s body to her own apartment and make it look like the suicide happened there. Then Sarah sets about bullying everyone else into going along with it.
Gallows humor rules the day, and the dead body becomes a prop, which might have worked if the comedy were broader. What is ensues is a series of bad decisions and bad behavior, as personalities clash, and events bring out the worst in everyone, plus a few secrets too. Everyone has their flaws: hard-eyed Sarah is a manipulator, lawyer Richard is a liar, moralist Beth is a hypocrite, and architect Tom is a dreamer who thinks it will all work out fine in the end. But there is isn’t anything very surprising in the way the film mocks these too-comfortable people.
However, the cast of British powerhouse talents are fantastic, and do what they can to milk the script for darkly comic stuff, a script that turns farcical every time someone new, like the police or a nosy neighbor (Anne Reid), turns up at the door. Which happens more than you’d think.
The cast is strong even if the film’s basic concept isn’t, with Scottish actor Shirley Henderson leading the pack. American audiences may know her best from a string of Mike Leigh films, like TOPSY TURVY or the Harry Potter ones. As Tom’s accountant wife, Henderson’s Sarah knows that selling their house is the only way out of their financial pickle, after architect Tom’s big grand project, for which he borrowed after losing his backer, went bust. She brings all her iron will, and some blackmail, to bear in pressuring the others to go along with her illegal plan.
Rufus Sewell is close behind, also giving a good performance as a character who has a charming demeanor but all kinds of moral shadiness. American audiences may recognize Sewell from his roles in “The Diplomat,” “Man in the High Castle” or PBS’ “Victoria,” and he sparkles here as egotistical, slippery lawyer Richard, whose specialty is defending rapists, although he claims to hate it.
Olivia Williams’ teary-eyed Beth seems ready to clutch her metaphorical pearls as she tries to claim the moral high ground, only to cave-in to pressure. Alan Tudyk’s Tom, the architect, just seems to want to stay out of everyone’s way, while closing his eyes and hoping it will all work out in the end.
The characters’ troubles, twists and bad decisions are divided into chapters with on-screen titles that all begin “The Trouble With..,” followed by “moving a body” or so forth. That is a technical flaw in a film that is already queasy on a humanity level. There are too many of these inserted title cards, all with little darkly funny comments, and they break up the flow of the action a bit too often. While the titles do focus our attention on the characters’ foibles or dilemmas, ethical and otherwise, they also break our concentration and take us out of the film, and sometimes make the film feel a bit smug itself.
Surprisingly often, more people arrive at the door, a few of which make it inside. Every time they do, the newcomer inevitably gazes longingly at, and comments on, the tempting dessert, the fruit-studded creamy clafoutis, on the table, placed there shortly before the discovery of the body and all the trouble started. That dessert even plays a role before all it done,
While there is some biting satire, plenty gallows humor, and darkly funny moments poking fun at these people’s human foibles, and it does feature a splendid cast, but there is a certain limpness in what should have been a wild tale of a quiet dinner gone oh-so-wrong where a dessert might help save the day
THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA opens Friday, Apr. 25, at selected theaters.
Like a smart, stylish, twisty spy thriller with a dash of dry British humor? Then Steven Soderbergh has a film for you. BLACK BAG stars Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchet as married spies George and Kathryn in this cleverly-written British-set spy thriller. When George is assigned to uncover a leak in MI6, one that risks exposing a top-secret plan called Severus, the pressure is on. “Fun and games,” as George puts it, ensue.
But it is not comedy but spy thriller jolts and twists we get. The film’s title comes from a term these married spies,use for things they have to keep secret, even from each other. “It’s in the black bag,” or just “black bag” is the phrase they use for those secrets, and in fact, everyone who works at the spy agency uses that term, as they are not the only couples there. If you are a spy, who else could you safely have a romance with besides someone at your agency?
BLACK BAG jumps right into things from the first shot, with titles on screening reading “Friday” and “London,” and a long take following George (Michael Fassbender) on a quick stroll through sophisticated London streets, which sets the film’s stylish tone. The shot follows him into a neon-lit club packed with dancers, down some stairs to a lower level, and out to terrace under stars, where he meets with fellow spy Philip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgard). They chat briefly about Meacham’s marriage, which is on the rocks after he cheated on his wife, with Philip mentioning George’s famously solid marriage as the exception in their line of work. After George suggests that Meacham’s wife might be less angry if he goes home, they get down to business – which is that a traitor in their ranks who may have exposed a sensitive plan known as “Severus.” Meacham then hands George a list of possible suspects.
We don’t see the list but Meacham mentions that George’s wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchet) is on it, and then asks George how long the investigation will take. “About two weeks,” George replies, which prompts Meacham to say that if “Severus” gets out, thousands will die. “OK, one week,” says George.
That flash of dry humor also helps set the film’s tone, along with the visual elegance of the long opening single shot. But the opening sequence efficiently does a number of things besides that, including establishing place, who these characters are, the puzzle to be solved, all while adding a ticking-clock aspect to motivate the action. The film never even mentions MI6, but we can surmise that from the London locale. Hitchcock would be proud.
“Efficient” is a good word for this highly-entertaining thriller, which runs a mere 93 minutes. Those who complain about overly-long films should appreciate that, yet BLACK BAG gets everything done without skimping on visual style, atmosphere, or any needed element.
A couple of days after George’s meeting with Meacham, the latter dies suspiciously, upping the pressure to find the leak. George and Kathryn had already planned a dinner party for other couples at the agency, so George now turns the dinner into an opportunity to probe for information, as some of the guests are on that list we didn’t see. Kathryn asks him what’s on the menu, to which George replies “fun and games.” “Will there be a mess to clean up?” she asks. “With any luck,” he replies.
The “fun and games” is a reference to “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” which goes to the original idea for the script, suggested to screenwriter David Koepp by director Steven Soderbergh, who wondered what if the couple in that novel were spies instead academics. But this couple in this clever script are not the angry battling pair in that novel and movie, even though Koepp retained the name “George” from the book’s George and Martha. Instead, George and Kathryn are devoted to each other, to the point where they might put their marriage above anything else, which raises some interesting questions for a married pair of spies hunting for a traitor in their midst.
There are more literary and cinematic references, in this smart and gripping spy drama, which combines John LeCarre with Agatha Christie, tosses in some “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and adds a dose of dry British humor, for a highly entertaining espionage mix.
BLACK BAG is an exciting spy thriller/drama but it is not an action film. There are no car chases and no shoot-outs although there is some violence and blood. The focus is more psychological thriller and solving the puzzle, with plenty of tense suspense and strong character development.
The film’s short running time and efficient direction mean that not much is spelled out or repeated, so audiences need to pay attention. However, we do get some reminders about important points, and nearly every character mentions George and Kathryn’s strong marriage, a key aspect in the plot.
There is a good deal about relationships in the film, with explorations of the others’ romantic relationships (which go to the whodunit plot) and there are some slightly steamy romantic scenes between Fassbender and Blanchet. No sequence runs very long, just enough to make the point well. The film moves at a brisk pace as it twists through it’s story, although never so fast that you can’t keep up – if you are paying attention.
Fassbender and Blanchet are both marvelous here, perfect in their scenes together. where they radiate sexual chemistry, and in their individual scenes. The rest of the cast are outstanding too, with a cast of characters who fascinate, who are mostly other couples. Tom Burke and Marisa Abela play Freddie and Clarissa, a couple mismatched in age but who have other attractions along with plenty troubles underlying their fiery romance. Rising-star Col. James Stokes (Rege-Jean Page) and in-house psychiatrist Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris) are better matched in age but less so in temperament. Pierce Brosnan plays a senior spy and team leader, Arthur Stieglitz, who has been there since the Cold War, while Gustaf Skarsgard makes a strong impression in his two scenes early on as Philip Meacham, with Kae Alexander in a brief appearance as his wife Anna.
For fans of clever spy thrillers, BLACK BAG is great fun. Steven Soderbergh’s couple-centered spy thriller is not a film with any grand statement to make, but it is a highly entertaining spy thriller that combines the chilly atmosphere of John LeCarre’s spy novels with Agatha Christie’s twisty cast-of-characters mysteries. If you enjoy any of that, plus a clever, original script with a plot to keeping you guessing, a touch of hot romance, and an intriguing bunch of characters with their own problems, BLACK BAG is just the ticket for you.
Haley Bennett as Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, the widow Clicquot, in Thomas Napper’s WIDOW CLICQUOT. Photo Credit: Ash Stephens. Courtesy of Vertical
If you celebrate by drinking champagne, you have a French widow in the Napoleonic age to thank. And if you want the best, one of France’s top champagnes is Veuve Clicquot, a name that translates as “Widow Clicquot.” honoring the young widow who took over the family vineyard and winery she had run with her husband, and not only made it into one of the leading makers of the bubbly but also transforming the whole champagne industry.
WIDOW CLICQUOT is an English-language historical drama recounting the true story of that brilliant, innovative woman, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, known as “Grande Dame of Champagne,” who lived from 1777 to 1866. Haley Bennett plays Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, the widow Clicquot, who not only made the Clicquot family’s champagne famous (with its distinctive yellow label) but who also invented pink champagne and created innovations that transformed the entire champagne industry itself. And all that in the time of Napoleon, when women had no rights and were forbidden to run a business – unless they were a widow continuing her husband’s business.
We first meet Barbe-Nicole as a newly widowed 28-year-old with a young daughter, as she fends off pressure from her well-meaning father-in-law Phillipe (Ben Miles) to sell the vineyard and winery to the neighboring Moet vineyard. But the widow is determined to run the vineyard and winery she and her late husband Francois (Tom Sturridge) had built together from the family business his father had turned over to him. She makes a deal with her father-in-law to let her try to run the winery and vineyard on her own for a limited amount of time, a deal he agrees to out of fondness for her but with the firm belief that no woman has the capacity to run a business, least of all this young widow.
With ground-breaking innovative ideas, the widow Clicquot tries to hold on to the dream she shared with Francois. The resourceful young widow quickly enlists the help of the talented salesman (Sam Riley) she and her husband had worked with, someone who was also a friend, to help her take the business to a new level. The gifted salesman – who traveled to sell the wine in various markets, a new idea at the time – takes the stunning new wines the widow makes straight to the top of society: the royal families of Europe.
The true story unfolds against the backdrop of the tumultuous age of Napoleon, with wars and all that followed. Director Thomas Napper’s lush period drama features all the lovely sets and costumes audiences could want, plus gorgeous visuals and a fine British cast, to complement this inspiring period biopic about one of the first women entrepreneurs in France. At a mere 90 minutes, the drama covers a lot of historical territory briskly. With the widow’s hard work, expertise with the vines and brilliant skill in experimenting with new wines, and the salesman’s tireless travel and his talent for marketing, something magical might take place – if nothing goes wrong. With weather and war as adversaries, it becomes a race between innovation and chance.
The story is full of unexpected twists and turns as the risk-taking widow determinedly improves her wine, despite setbacks and challenges of various kinds. Like most period dramas, there is a bit of romance too, in scenes that flashback to her life with Francois. Their marriage was arranged by their wine-making families but it turned into true love, and a partnership of equals, inspired by the humanist ideals of the age.
But these characters are more complex than in a standard period drama. While these flashbacks give a romantic touch, they soon turn more complex, adding a tragic dimension to this tale of one remarkable woman. Ultimately, the focus is on the accomplishments of this brilliant, determined woman more than on romance. Further both the widow and the wandering salesman are more complicated people than we might assume, while the father-in-law, fond as he is of his son’s widow, can’t escape his ideas about what women can do, something also true of the society of the time. There is plenty of risk and rule-breaking, which adds a layer of tension and suspense to the tale.
WIDOW CLIQUOT is an inspiring drama about a courageous real woman entrepreneur who faced more sexism and barriers than we could imagine yet achieved success through it all. Which deserves a toast with that bubbly wine she worked so hard to perfect.
Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse in director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s BACK TO BLACK, a Focus Features release. Credit: Olli Upton/Focus Features
Talented singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse’s tragic life was already the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary, AMY in 2015, made a few years after her death in 2011at age 27 from alcohol poisoning. So my first reaction on hearing of the biopic drama BACK TO BLACK was to wonder if we needed another Amy Winehouse movie. The excellent 2015 documentary seems to have have told her story well and thoroughly, but reportedly the Winehouse family was unhappy with it. However, the family granted permission to the filmmakers of this new biopic drama, BACK TO BLACK, with access to materials and song use.
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson and writer Matt Greenhalgh previously collaborated on another music biopic, NOWHERE BOY, a fine drama about the childhood of John Lennon. The filmmakers assert that the Winehouse family had no say on the final film but the family does come across in a more positive light in this drama and they also have a more prominent role than in the 2015 Oscar-winning documentary.
BACK TO BLACK follows the familiar rise and fall pattern of biopics of other gifted but tragic musicians but does feature some nice acting performances and a chance to hear her songs again. It starts out with young Amy (Marisa Abela) on the verge of her fame, surrounded by her loving, working-class, Jewish family in the Southgate section of London. Amy is talented, and ambitious, and encouraged by her beloved paternal grandmother Nan (Leslie Manville), a still-cool, stylish, former jazz singer, who influenced Amy’s love of jazz and her ’50s-’60s fashion style of beehives, heavy eyeliner, and tight retro dresses. Amy is also funny, strong-willed, out-spoken, hot-tempered and driven. She also already has a big drinking problem.
First off, it is important to mention that the documentary is the much better film, and you will learn much more about the talented but self-destruction Amy Winehouse from it than this biopic. BACK TO BLACK often assumes the audience knows things about Amy Winehouse and her life that they may not, such as her struggles with bulimia, which makes for some confusing or even misleading scenes.
That said, Marisa Abela does a fine job portraying Winehouse, capturing her mannerisms, accent and assertive yet funny persona. The same is also true of the wonderful Lesley Manville as her beloved grandmother Cynthia, whom Amy calls Nan. Eddie Marsan is also very good as her father Mitch, along with Jack O’Connell as Amy’s charismatic, handsome but toxic husband Blake. Juliet Cowan plays Amy’s mother Janis Winehouse, a pharmacist suffering from multiple sclerosis, who raised Amy after separating from her father, and Sam Buchanan as Nick Shymansky, Amy’s friend her became her first manager, but the bulk of the narrative is carried by those first four characters.
The best parts of BACK TO BLACK are the cast’s performances and the chance to hear some of Amy Winehouse’s hit songs. However, the drama assumes that audiences know some things about Winehouse that they may not, and if you want to really learn about Amy Winehouse’s life and career, that Oscar-winning documentary is still the better choice. But you do get more of a feel for her family life and growing up Jewish in London’s Southgate in BACK TO BLACK.
Abela does her own singing and while she does well enough, she is an actress, not a singer, and certainly does not have Amy Winehouse’s distinctive, golden voice. Still, Abela does her best to sing in Winehouse’s style, and is at her most convincing singing the signature “Back to Black.” However, it would have better to have used Amy Winehouse’s real voice, instead of following this craze of actors playing famous singer doing their own singing, often with mixed results, and depriving fans of hearing the real star’s voice, the thing that made them famous.
Abela tries to capture Winehouse’s singing style, and does pretty well, but she is better in capturing Winehouse’s speaking voice, her mannerisms, and gives a convincing and touching portrayal of this funny, demanding, and fascinating talented woman who knew what she wanted and had a deep knowledge and love of jazz.
Lesley Manville is marvelous as Amy’s beloved grandmother Cynthia, a jazz singer who dressed stylishly and influenced Amy’s style and encouraged her musical interest from a young age. The film captures how Winehouse adored her paternal grandmother, whom she called Nan, and depicts Amy as she gets her tattoo paying tribute to her. The other delightful performance is from Eddie Marsan as Amy’s taxi-driver dad Mitch, who had a close loving relationship with his daughter but didn’t always make decisions in her best interests. As Amy’s career soars, dad Mitch is more of an ever-present figure, while mom Janice virtually disappears until late in the film. Mitch had a strong influence and worked closely with his daughter as her career took off, but was not always as good an influence.
Audiences may have some confusion over the relationship between Mitch and Cynthia, as Manville is only 12 years older than Marsan, and they look about the same age. It is easy to assume they are siblings rather than mother and son, and the drama does nothing to clarify this situation, one of the drama’s several problems.
The drama gives a little nod, although not enough, to Winehouse’s skill as a songwriter, and accurately depicts her as a perfectionist in her work, at least until drinking and drugging took their toll. While the bulimia is not directly mentioned until the end, the drama does a better job with her alcoholism, Even before her career really launches, Amy has already had a serious drinking problem, including incidents of seizures. A later scene depicts a confrontation with her manager about going to rehab, with her father siding with his daughter after she promises to cut back, something echoed in the lyrics of her song “Rehab.”
The film is stronger and more focused overall in its first half. The drama starts out fairly well, although it focuses more on Amy’s personal and family life than her career and work. However, it makes a turn into a doomed romance story after Amy meets her future husband Blake Fielder-Civil. The turning point comes after a strong, emotionally powerful sequence where Amy meets Blake. Those scenes are very good, with strong romantic chemistry between Abel and O’Connell, laying the groundwork for the obsessive, toxic love affair that follows. But once Amy falls for Blake, the film becomes increasingly disorganized, jumping around in time and failing to explain several things that pop up. There is a scene where the hard-drinking Amy discovers her new love’s drug problem and firmly rejects and even condemns drug use, yet in almost the next scene, we see Amy buying her own drugs, without Blake, leaving us puzzled as to what happened in between. The film continues to deteriorate in that fashion, ans once Manville’s Nan dies, both Amy and this drama go off the rails, morphing into a film about the toxic romance rather than her music, with Amy repeatedly talk about her longings to be a wife and mother.
Whether Blake was the real villain in Amy Winehouse’s life or not is another matter, as it seems more likely a combination of factors, including Amy’s self-destructive behavior, the loss of a strong hand to steady her with the death of her grandmother Cynthia (reportedly the only person she would listen to when she was out-of-control), a shark-like media, family and friends who failed to intervene to protect or help her, and her drug-addicted husband. But in this drama, the major blame is placed on a drug-addict husband who wanted to hitch his wagon to her rising star.
Although there are a few nice concert scenes after the biopic switches to toxic romance, the film continues to unravel, with several scenes that leave the audience confused about what is going on with the singer. While someone might argue that the film’s narrative falling apart might be meant to mirror Winehouse’s increasingly chaotic life, that explanation doesn’t really hold up. The film continues as a confusing mess until fizzles to a weak ending, with Amy walking away from the camera and seeming on the way to recovery, followed by a black screen and texts telling us of her death from alcohol poisoning at age 27. Then instead of just going to black, there is another scenes with Abela, instead of footage of the actual Amy, saying all she wanted to do was entertain with her songs.
Again, despite the strong performances and warm early scenes with family, you will not really learn much about Amy Winehouse in this biopic drama. Again, the 2015 documentary AMY is the better choice, and a better film overall, where you will learn much more about the massively talented but self-destructive Amy Winehouse.
Anthony Hopkins as Nicholas Winton in ONE LIFE. Courtesy of Bleecker Street
The moving ONE LIFE throws a spotlight on a British man, Nicholas Winton, who has been called the “British Schindler,” saved far more than one life in the early days of WWII. Anthony Hopkins plays the older Nicholas Winton, who in 1938 had organized a kindertransport, an effort to get hundreds of children, mostly Jewish, out of Prague ahead of the Nazis, but whose heroic efforts were not widely known or recognized until 1988, when he appeared on a popular British TV talk show.
The children and their families had fled to Prague after Hitler seized the Sudetenland, a German-speaking area in the north of the then Czechoslovakia, in 1938, the beginning of Hitler’s plan for conquest. In the infamous appeasement of Hitler, European countries, including Britain, had agreed to Hitler’s demands and ceded the Sudetenland to Germany, with a false promise of peace. ONE LIFE tells the remarkable story of Winton’s heroic efforts to rescue these refugee children but it also depicts the late-in-life recognition for his seemingly-impossible effort that saved hundreds of children.
The idea that the rescue was impossible was the first obstacle Nicholas Winton faced in saving those children. Johnny Flynn plays the younger Nicky Winton who we meet in flashback sequences, along with Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Nicky’s feisty, determined mother Babette (nicknamed Babi), who was among the many people who helped save those young lives. The cast also includes Jonathan Pryce, as the older version of one of Nicky’s friends who helped with the rescue, and Lena Olin as the older Nicky’s wife Grete.
Based on the book “If It’s Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton” by Nicholas Winton’s daughter, Barbara Winton, ONE LIFE is an emotional film, an uplifting survivors story, with dramatic scenes in both the pre-war rescue portion and the later 1988 portion, when the world – and in some cases the now-grown rescued children – finally learned what the modest Winton done in 1938. In 1988, the modest, reserved retired banker Nicholas Winton was an unlikely guest on the pop-culture British TV show “That’s Life!” and the world finally learned of his remarkable deeds. The historic drama is directed by BAFTA-nominated James Hawes.
Of course, Winton was not the only person who made the rescue possible but he was the last one left alive in 1988 when the heroic deeds finally came to light. And it was Winton who put in motion the rescue that others told him was impossible, although significant roles were played by Trevor Chadwick (Alex Sharp) and Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai) of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia, who helped to rescue hundreds of predominantly Jewish children before Nazi occupation closed the borders.
ONE LIFE opens with retired banker Nicholas Winton (Hopkins) living a quiet, comfortable life in rural England. As they await the birth of their first grandchild, his wife Grete (Lena Olin) encourages Nicky to finally clear out all the clutter and old files in his overstuffed home office, to make a little more room in the house. The contents of one worn, old briefcase is something she knows will be hard for husband Nicky to part with – perhaps to a library or research center.
We learn that the briefcase has a “scrapbook” that is a record of what Winton did during WWII, when he decides to tackle the long-delayed task while his wife is on an out-of-town trip. Nicky thinks the scrapbook is important and should be preserved but he doesn’t want it stashed away in a library. Instead, he wants it to be somewhere people can access it and learn from it, especially charitable groups facing other near-impossible tasks.
In flashbacks to 1938, we meet young Nicky Winton (Flynn), a low-level accountant with a London investment banking firm, who has a strong commitment to doing good works, as his mother Babi Winton (Bonham Carter) raised him to do. Nicky has taken time off work to travel to Prague to help with refugees who fled there when the Nazis took over the Sudetenland, despite the rising danger of Nazi invasion.. As soon as he arrives, Doreen Warriner (Garai) and Trevor Chadwick (Sharp) put Nicky to work organizing the files of their organization, the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia, with Nicky cracking that he’s “good at desk.”
A visit to the squalid, crowded neighborhood where the refugees are living changes everything for Nicky, when he meets some children suffering there. Moved, he wants to do something to help. When he asks Warriner how the children will survive the coming winter, she grimly replies “They won’t.”
Although Warriner tells Nicky that saving them is practically impossible, Nicky is determined to try to get them out of the country. “If something is not impossible, then there must be a way to do it,” Winton says.
The first problem they encounter is getting lists of refugee children. There are several organizations helping the refugees and they fear of lists of the children will fall into Nazi hands and so they won’t share them. Frustrated, Nicky eventually meets with the leader of one group, Rabbi Hertz (Samuel Finzi). The rabbi is wary of trusting Winton, who was raised in the Church of England, but when Winton reveals that he had Jewish grandparents on both sides, the rabbi decides to trust Winton. That opens the door for others to also cooperate.
With things underway Prague, Nicky calls on his resourceful mother Babi back in London to help with getting permits and finding foster families for the children.
The film moves back and forth in time between wartime 1938 and the film’s present in 1988, when what Winton did during the war finally comes to light. Both portions are moving and have emotional moments, but the ending of the 1988 portion makes the film particularly uplifting.
Anthony Hopkins is splendid as the modest, kindly Nicholas Winton, who assumes that the documents he has preserved are important but does not see himself or what he did that way. The scrapbook records in detail the people and actions of the kindertransport, and even photos, but Nicky thinks it is mostly of interest to other charitable organizations. Always quick to credit the efforts of others, Nicky doesn’t see what he did as heroic but instead is wracked with remorse about the children he couldn’t save when the Nazis suddenly shut down the border.
Hopkins does a lovely job portraying Winton’s quiet determination and appealing modesty, as well as his sweet fondness for children. The rest of the cast is also excellent, including Johnny Flynn as young Nicky. Helen Bonham Carter is particularly delightful as Nicky’s strong-willed, sharp-tongued mother Babi, and her performance adds a needed bit of humor. The scenes with Hopkins as the very serious Winton appearing on the light-weight, pop culture talk show “That’s Life” also offer a touch of comic relief, although it leads to a three-hankie but perfect ending.
The photography is lovely, and the attention to period details in both time periods makes immersion in the story easy. The colors are warm but muted, and the scenes in the refugee settlement with the ragged children, some with pleading eyes and others with irrepressible childish energy, are Dickensian, touching and heartbreaking.
ONE LIFE is a polished, moving period drama featuring a fine cast, highlighting an inspiring story that should be better known, about a man who deserves recognition for saving hundreds of children, simply because he refused to believe it was impossible.
John le Carré (David Cornwell) in “The Pigeon Tunnel,” premiering October 20, 2023 on Apple TV+. Courtesy of Apple+
If it is true that to be a great writer, you need an unusual childhood, then the great spy novelist John LeCarre may be Exhibit A. Or so it seems in this fascinating documentary by Errol Morris, THE PIGEON TUNNEL.
Errol Morris, one of the most creative, compelling documentarians ever, turns his camera on perhaps the greatest spy novelist ever, John LeCarre, in the documentary THE PIGEON TUNNEL. The British writer and former spy who uses the pen name John LeCarre, but whose real name was David Cornwell, has turned out a remarkable string of spy novels, nearly all of which became bestsellers. From The Spy Who Came Into The Cold onward, John LeCarre has thrilled readers with spy novels that have the intriguing ring of real spy craft to them, unlike the James Bond adventurer type, transforming the genre of espionage novels.
“The Pigeon Tunnel” is the name of John LeCarre’s (aka David Cornwell’s) 2016 autobiography but it is also the place-holder name he used for his spy novels before they had their final titles. Near the beginning of the Errol Morris’ excellent documentary THE PIGEON TUNNEL, LeCarre related a rather chilling story about the origin of that phrase, a tale in which privileged guests at a grand Monaco hotel use a seaside-facing balcony to shoot at pigeons as they emerged from a tunnel, an entertainment arranged by the hotel, something young Cornwell says he witnessed while staying at the hotel with his free-spending gambler father Ronald “Ronnie” Cornwell, and one that illustrates a certain sense of cold entitlement and his lack of feeling.
Documentarian Errol Morris spoke with John LeCarre in an interview that ranged over four days in 2019. LeCarre is charming, cordial, erudite and often smiling, as he talks about his books and his work in secret intelligence, and most especially about his father Ronnie Cornwell, a charming swindler and gambler who was always in debt and sometimes in trouble with the law. LeCarre’s mother abandoned the family when he was five, leaving him and his older brother with his unreliable, philandering father. Growing up with such a father, truth was a stranger in their lives and his father involved his sons in his cons. When not in trouble with the law, Ronnie rubbed elbows with the upper crust and spent freely. There was little affection. It was a childhood that could not have been more unusual.
While LeCarre recounts his tales, Errol Morris works his signature magic, with actors re-enacting some parts of LeCarre’s life, particularly his youth and young adulthood, sequences so good you are drawn into them like drama and a bit surprised when you come back to the white-haired man in the room. We also get archival stills and shots of newspaper clippings, often headlines about Ronnie’s arrests or financial scandals. There are extended clips from films based on LeCarre’s books, primarily THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and the British TV adaptation of the Smiley series of novels, starting with TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY.
While Errol Morris weaves his magic with archival materials, John LeCarre is filmed in ways that suit the spy tales or stories of growing up as the son of a conman. The shot is often cocked, a Dutch angle, and shooting into a room through a doorway or with eerie green light adds a sense of mystery. LeCarre never loses his temper, never raises his voice and only rarely looks even uncomfortable. With a few exceptions, like when he talks about his own father’s attempt to con him out of money, LeCarre is calm and collected, personable and polite – a charmer to the last.
But LeCarre begins the interview with a touch of wariness, quizzing director/interviewer Errol Morris about his “intentions” for the interview and asking how he should regard him – friend, adversary? When Morris replies that he honestly doesn’t know, and repeats it, LeCarre seems to relax as it satisfied with the vague answer. It sets a strange tone for all that follows, with us always wondering what is going on in his head,. behind the congenial smile. About recruiting spies, LeCarre describes how the British secret intelligence service looked for “boys who were a little bit bad but who were loyal,” those who had separated from family early by going to boarding school and has an early Independence – all of which he acknowledged described him perfectly.
As the two talk, the background sometimes shifts, from a library to a room with a large table and vertical windows. We see only LeCarre, although we sometimes hear Morris, as LeCarre talks about his books, his work in secret intelligence and especially about his childhood and his relationship with this unreliable father.
The one thing he seems to have done right, was seeing that his sons had good educations at public schools and went on to Oxford. The plan was for young David to be a lawyer but instead he studied modern languages, with the support of his tutor Vivian Green. Then MI5 came calling and espionage entered the picture.
John LeCarre’s spy novels were strikingly different from the James Bond adventure tales, with the feel of real spy craft and cerebral, coolly calculating cat-and-mouse games between adversaries on opposite sides of the Cold War. It was a revelation that transformed espionage novels. and led to a string of bestsellers and movies based on them.
All this adds up to a fascinating tour of the world of John LeCarre, his strange childhood, his days at Oxford where he studied modern languages and was recruited to spy for MI5, and his time with MI5 (British domestic security) and MI6 (international) during the Cold War that he wrote about so well. Blended with the excellent recreations and the archival footage and stills, and we feel completely immersed in John LeCarre’s world, fictional and not, always with the little hint of secrets still kept.
It is a world that LeCarre fans, like this writer, won’t want to leave. But leave we must, as the film comes to an end and we are left with the knowledge that is was LeCarre’s last interview before his death in 2020. But is was fascinating while it lasted, much like LeCarre’s always smart and nuanced spy novels.
PIGEON TUNNEL is available streaming only on Apple+ starting Friday, Oct. 20.
Helen Mirren as Golda Meir and Liev Schreiber as Henry Kissinger, in Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures’ GOLDA Photo credit: Sean Gleason, Courtesy of Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures
Helen Mirren portrays Golda Meir, Israel’s first women prime minister, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in GOLDA. Internationally, Golda Meir is known as the “Iron Lady of Israel” and is an admired figure but she is more controversial in her home country of Israel. In the British historical drama GOLDA, Israeli-American director Guy Nativ and British scriptwriter Nicholas Martin aim to offer a fresh look at Golda Meir by focusing on her during the Yom Kippur War, when Israel found itself facing two invading armies, from Egypt in the Sinai and Syria in the Golan Heights.
Mirren plays Golda Meir in heavy makeup and prosthetics, transforming her appearenceappearance to more closely resemble the much-photographed Golda Meir and allow director Nativ to more easily include generous use of archival footage and even insert Mirren into some of those scenes. Mirren’s physical transformation is impressive enough to draw gasps, but some have criticized the makeup as restricting her performance, while others, including this writer, feel that Mirren still delivers an affecting performance, which some have called Oscar-worthy.
Adding to the controversy is that Helen Mirren is not Jewish, raising objections to “Jew face” casting. However, Israeli-American director Guy Nativ sought her out for this role, after she was first suggested by Golda Meir’s grandson Gideon Meir, who was a consultant on the drama. Mirren’s carefully-researched, restrained performance gives little room for criticism, and having an Israeli-born director, plus a strong supporting cast with many Israel and Jewish actors, also goes a ways towards softening the issue.
GOLDA is neither a true biopic nor is it a battlefield war epic, and people expecting either will be disappointed. Instead, it is a engrossing and tense, ticking-clock drama in which Helen Mirren gives a taut portrayal of Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War, which was an existential threat to Israel but ultimately led to the peace accord and recognition with Egypt.
Golda Meir was an Israeli national hero when she was chosen as Israel’s first (and so far only) woman prime minister but she was considered an interim choice because the sides could not agree on a choice. By any standard, Meir had a remarkable life, from her childhood in Ukraine under the Russia empire, to her family’s emigration to Milwaukee, to her decision as a young woman to move to Israel and fight in its war for independence. But GOLDA neither a full biography nor is it a full examination of the events of the Yom Yippur War, but a hybrid of the two that focuses on Golda Meir’s experience of that war.
The 1973 Yom Kippur War came not long after the Six Days War, where that quick victory left Israeli generals feeling overconfident. GOLDA opens with a brief montage of archival images and video to recap some early Israeli history, and then moves on to a post-Yom Kippur War hearing, where Prime Minister Golda Meir (Mirren) is being questioned by the Agranat commission about controversial decisions made during the war, which had high casualties on all sides.
The commission is used as a framing devise for Golda to tell her story of the war, from her perspective. That retelling begins with Prime Minister Golda Meir getting a report from the head of Mossad, Zvi Zamir (Israeli actor Rotem Keinan), about a source warning of an imminent attack by both Egypt and Syria, Israel’s neighbors to the south and north, a warning that comes in October just as Yom Kippur is approaching.
Unfortunately, this same Mossad source has warned of an attack earlier in the year, which never took place. so Meir knows defense minister Moshe Dayan (Israeli actor Rami Heuberger) will be skeptical. When she meets with her military advisors, all men, they show her little respect, barely remembering to stand for her as they would for any prime minister. Overconfident after the success of the Six Day War, the generals mostly dismiss the idea of an attack during the high holy days, even though Meir warns is a perfect time for one. Military intelligence head Eli Zeira (Israeli actor Dvir Benedek) assures her that their secret listening system will warn them of any attack well in advance, even despite the holiday. He’s wrong.
The film is packed with famous figures of Israeli history, and the cast includes Israel stars Lior Ashkenazi as General David “Dado” Elazar and Ohad Knoller as a young Ariel Sharon, while Liev Schreiber plays U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The acting is strong but nuanced throughout, but the drama is more emotionally restrained than explosive.
While billed as a “political thriller,” GOLDA lacks the pulse-pounding pace of a thriller. Instead, it is more a tense, involving drama, as we follow Golda Meir closely as she copes with war on two fronts, a team of over-confident all-male generals who are shocked when their forces are at first overwhelmed, and her own anguish over war casualties. The sexism of the era is present, as the men who are supposed to serve her as prime minister often fail to even stand when she enters, as they have done for every other prime minister, but the film does not dwell on this. Instead the focus is on Golda Meir’s skill as a leader and decision-maker, despite her lack of military experience, and her anguish at the war’s loss of life, losses she records day by day in a notebook.
Mirren’s Golda is a chain-smoking, flinty character with a sharp political mind and cunning skill in manipulating the men who surround her and anticipating the plans of her enemies. At the time, Golda Meir was 76 years old and suffering from cancer, something depicted in a few scenes. She was in poor physical shape, so travel to the war zone was largely not possible, which means this war-time story largely takes place in Golda Meir’s office, the hallways and bunkers where Meir and her generals discussed military actions and listened to radio reports from the two fronts.
Watching the grandmotherly figure navigate the politics of the strong male personalities in the room with a flinty strength, while making decisive, smart strategic military decisions despite her lack of soldierly training, is inspiring, and one of the highlights of Mirren’s performance. Away from the meetings, we see the more haunted and personal side of Golda.
Among the film’s best moments are when Golda Meir charms and cajoles Kissinger into providing aid for Israel, despite the Watergate scandal unfolding at the same time. They talk by phone and then Kissinger visits Israel to talk in-person with Meir. Meir feeds Kissinger borscht, and then gets to work. Schreiber’s Kissinger cautions her ” “Madame Prime Minister, in terms of our work together, I think it is important to remember I am first an American, second I am Secretary of State, and third I am a Jew.” Golda Meir replies “You forget that in Israel, we read from left to right.” It provides a rare moment of lightness and humor in the drama.
The carefully-researched film recreates the period look. While much of the drama takes place in smoke-filled rooms and half-lit hallways, Nativ captures the horror of the war with clips of archival footage and actual audience recordings of battlefield exchanges. There is also frequent use of other archival footage, including some with the real Golda Meir, and some where Mirren is inserted into the archival image. The film works hard to accurately recreate Golda Meir’s clothes, appearance and smoking, as well as the look of her office and other spaces where the story unfolds, with the help of Meir’s grandson Gideon as a consultant.
The personal side of Meir comes out mostly in her scenes with her personal assistant and friend, Lou Kaddar (French actress Camille Cottin), which are warm and sometimes depict her defiance or moments of doubt. The soundtrack is tense, often with a percussive character and metallic, strident bells. The film concludes with the perfect choice of Leonard Cohen’s song “Who By Fire,” which he wrote after visiting Israeli troops during this war.
GOLDA, in English and Hebrew with English subtitles, opens Friday, Aug. 25, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and other theaters nationally.
Daryl McCormack as Liam in THE LESSON. Courtesy of Bleecker Street
They say never meet your heroes, and the literary thriller THE LESSON offers a case in point, where a young would-be writer gets what he thinks is a dream assignment, tutoring the son of his literary idol for the boy’s Oxford entry exams. An Oxford grad himself, the tutor and aspiring author, Liam Sommers (Daryl McCormack, GOOD LUCK TO YOU, is ambitious and brings along his own unfinished first novel in hopes of some mentoring from the literary giant he so admires, renowned novelist J.M. Sinclair (Richard E. Grant). Julie Delpy plays the famous writer’s wife Helene, an artist and art curator. The family lives on a large, isolated British estate, surrounded by unruly gardens and a rustic pond, with just a whiff of Shirley Jackson Gothic thriller in the air.
Director Alice Troughton does an excellent job of creating a tense, mysterious mood for THE LESSON. Troughton and scriptwriter Alex MacKeith keep a lightly wry touch to the proceedings, as the changeable Sinclairs keep us always a bit off balance. Although on the surface, the tutor and teen are the central concern, much more is going on beneath the surface.
The film actually opens not on the family estate but with a flash forward, of Liam being interviewed about his hit first novel on an artsy talk show. But we then transition back in time, to Liam’s idol, J.M. Sinclair, being interviewed by the same host on the same TV program. As the lauded Sinclair speaks, the author repeats that oft-heard literary line, “Good writers borrow from others. Great writers steal.” Exuding enormous charm, Sinclair delivers his signature line, with a twinkle in his eye and a winning smile.
We see that smile throughout the film but sometimes there is an emotional chill behind it. Scratch that, often there is that chill. Liam arrives at the great man’s estate, eager and excited, for what looks like either a last interview for the job or a trial run of his teaching skills. He is greeted by the butler, but rather than being given entry to the house, he is shown to a guest house. He meets the boy he is to tutor, shy and resentful Bertie (Stephen McMillan), then the boy’s mother Helene (Delpy), who seems to be the one making the decisions. Eventually, Liam does meet his idol, but only after the friendly, warm young tutor has been very thoroughly been put in his place by Helene and even the butler.
While the tense atmosphere works to unnerve Liam, he is also determined to make a good impression, hopeful of more of a chance to interact with his hero. But the new tutor is not the only one on edge. In fact both the son and the wife send out feelings of tension, even fear, and tread carefully around the great author. There are flashes of temper on the famous writer’s part but the electric tension that fills the air suggest something more than moody temperament is at play, and we also soon learn the Sinclairs are still recovering from a tragic loss
McComack’s Liam is charming and handsome but his appearance, accent and egalitarian manner all suggest he was not born to aristocracy or money despite his Oxford education. Liam is clearly ambitious as well as charming, and likely used to navigating around British aristocrats to get what he wants. In this house, he needs all the wiles he can muster.
THE LESSON’s drama unspools in tense mystery mode, offering us hints about secrets and the complex relationships. The landscape around their rambling home looks idyllic but hides unexpected dangers. For Liam, those dangers include the couple who are employing him.
Repeatedly, the film uses beavers busy in and around the property’s lake as a not-too-subtle hint that everyone on this property is also busily at work on something, and that there is much going on unseen beneath the surface. The film is divided into three parts, which reflect the structure of the novel that the great man has been working on for some time. Meanwhile, Liam has brought along his own novel, which he writes in long-hand as he goes about his tutoring work. The young Bertie discovers something special about Liam, beyond his natural charm and good looks, which is an impressive memory.
The trio at the center of this mystery drama, Daryl McCormack, Richard E. Grant and Julie Delpy, are splendid, together and separate. Nothing is quite what it seems, as hidden details and buried secrets emerge. Grant terrorizes everyone as the great man, while Delpy pulls back from his blasts, but then works calmly around him. McCormack’s Liam, taken aback by Grant’s Sinclair’s temper and imperiousness, recalculates and starts again. To Sinclair, he presents a smooth, deferential face but we see a more complex mix, including anger and resentment, away from the great man’s gaze. Another smoldering fire comes from Delpy and Grant, as the couple dance around each other, as well as around Liam, around their son and around some tough facts. The interplay among them, the twists and maneuvers, all work to keep us engrossed.
THE LESSON’s last act isn’t quite as strong as the first 2 parts but overall, the film delivers well. The film’s use of a framing devise, the younger man being interviewed at the beginning and again at the end, raises questions about whether the story we see is something real, or whether it might be just storytelling. It gives one a little chill, given what does happen, and also adds a touch of dark humor as well. What is real and what is fiction, what is true and what is story, heightens the mystery of THE LESSON. Some lessons are learned and some are taught a lesson, in this clever, well-written mystery-drama, so well played by the gifted cast.
