Tag: period romance

MR. MALCOLM’S LIST – Review

(L to R) Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù stars as “Mr. Malcolm” and Freida Pinto stars as “Selina Dalton” in director Emma Holly Jones’ MR. MALCOLM’S LIST, a Bleecker Street release. Credit : Ross Ferguson / Bleecker Street

The streaming hit “Bridgerton” has opened a new style of period romance, a fantasy historical romance in which bits of anachronism are plainly on view and color-blind casting enlivens interest. In that show, tales of romance feature essentially-modern people, dressed in the colorful costumes of Jane Austen’s time, pursuing love under the rules of that time period – well, some of the rules. MR. MALCOLM’S LIST is a Regency romance following “Bridgerton’s” lead with the color-blind casting but without the anachronisms, for a romantic romp with an attractive cast in a story that blends elements of Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma.”

Director Emma Holly Jones makes her feature film debut with MR. MALCOLM’S LIST, adapting Suzanne Allain’s novel and with a script written by the author. The film provides plenty of snappy dialog and intriguing situations, all set in beautiful locations, with those lovely costumes and period furnishings. For fans of period romances, MR. MALCOLM’S LIST delivers solid entertainment, although not always in the ways anticipated and with a bit more humor than might be expected.

Zawe Ashton stars as Julia Thistlewaite, a wealthy and pretty young woman who has a high opinion of herself but is less charming and well-informed as she thinks she is. Julia had set her sights on the season’s most eligible bachelor, the rich but aloof Mr. Jeremy Malcolm (Ṣọpe Dìrísu), but after briefly capturing his attention, she is dropped. Stung by the snub, and particularly a publicly-circulating cartoon satirizing it, she is particularly outraged when she learns, through her cousin, Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), that Mr. Malcolm has a secret list of requirements for a potential wife, and she failed to make the grade. Julia determines to get revenge, and calls on an old school friend, Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto), a country girl and the daughter of a vicar, to help her. Julia’s plan is to remake her friend into the perfect match for Mr. Malcolm’s list but after he falls for her, have her then spurn him for not meeting the requirements of her own list. Sweet, innocent Selina initially balks at this scheme but is persuaded when Julia appeals for her help based on their long friendship.

After outfitting the less-affluent Selina with fashionable new clothes, coaching her in dancing, and a little brush-up on current political issues like the corn laws, Julia arranges a meeting with Mr Malcolm at a ball. It all goes better than hoped. When handsome Captain Henry Ossory (Theo James) turns up shortly afterwards, with his own plans to court Selina, things look even better in Julia’s eyes. What she fails to note that Selina and Mr. Malcolm really are attracted to each other.

Of course, where this goes is no surprise but the fun in this kind of tale is in the characters themselves. But the thing is that in this Austen-esque drama, it is the supporting characters who are much more interesting than the couple supposedly at the center of the plot.

Zawe Ashton’s Julia is positioned to be the villain but Ashton is so funny and so human in her failings that we easily fall for her flawed character. Likewise, Oliver Jackson-Cohen’s charmingly lazy Lord Cassidy, as his cousin’s reluctant partner in this plot, amuses and entertains us with his quirkiness. Theo James as the handsome captain becomes more of presence, charming us with his insights and steady nature as he slowly shifting his attentions towards the plotting Julia. On the other hand, Freida Pinto’s Selina is just too pure and sweet to have much depth, and Sope Dirisu’s Jeremy Malcolm remains so reserved that it is hard to connect with him. Unlike Austen’s Mr. Darcy, he never opens up much and the character does not win us over in the same way.

The re-direction of our interests to supporting characters may have been the director’s plan all along, but a little more depth for the purported main characters would have made this period romance a bit more fun.

Certainly, the actors have the chops to do that (if unfamiliar with Sope Dirisu, check out the amount of magic he generates in his very small role in another costume drama, MOTHERING SUNDAY). But the delightful Zawe Ashton more than makes up for those thinner characters, turning her clueless, selfish Julia from a source of humor into someone we care about and cheer as she evolves.

There are other entertaining supporting characters to add to the entertainment, a footman and a maid, Selina’s embarrassingly outre’ widowed cousin Mrs. Covington (Ashley Park), Julia’s exasperated mother Mrs. Thistlewaite (Naoko Mori) and, particularly delightful in a smaller role, Dona Croll as Jeremy Malcolm’s regal mother Lady Kilbourne. The film, shot on location in Ireland, looks gorgeous, packed with beautiful scenery, lush interiors and lovely colorful costumes.

It’s not Jane Austen but MR MALCOLM’S LIST has enough fun to keep “Bridgerton” and other period romance fans happy.

MR MALCOLM’S LIST opens in theaters on Friday, July 1.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

ON CHESIL BEACH – Review

 

 

Saoirse Ronan as Florence Ponting and Billy Howle as Edward Mayhew in On Chesil Beach, a Bleeker Street release. Photo: Robert Viglasky / Bleeker Street ©

Both romantic and searing, ON CHESIL BEACH stars Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle as a couple whose marriage feels the impact that sex, and the sexual attitudes of a time period, can have on love. Based on Ian McEwan’s 2007 Booker Prize-winning novella. McEwan also wrote the screenplay for the moving, heartbreaking drama, in which Dominic Cooke makes his film directorial debut.

Saoirse Ronan plays Florence and Billy Howle plays Edward, a young English couple just married and spending their wedding night at a Dorset hotel near Chesil Beach in 1962. Both are nervous and virgins but they are in love. In 1962, Britain still has one foot in the stifling social restrictions and sexual repression of the post-war 1950s, with the changes of the ’60s just on the horizon, like the music of the upstart band, The Beatles, that Edward loves. As the couple awkwardly approach their wedding night, the film flashes back to their romance, and then flashes forward to tell the rest of the story.

The era’s toxic attitudes towards sex, particularly for young women, creates tensions between them. As Ronan plays the character, Florence is both fearful and excited, with little knowledge and rigid ideas about what little she does know. There are also hints about possible sexual abuse by her father to complicate matters further. Edward’s own inexperience and temper issues do not help matters.

The couple met in college where Edward Mayhew is a history graduate from a modest-income rural family, who attended on scholarship and plans to write history books, and Florence Ponting is a music major, a violinist from a wealth big city family, with ambitions to lead a string quartet. Florence loves classical music and Edward loves the then-new rock and roll, yet despite their very different backgrounds and different musical tastes, they seem a perfect match.

Ronan and Howle are both very good, making a convincing couple whose love warms us. The film also has fine supporting performances. The contrast between the families is part of the charm of this film. Edward’s family life is complicated, with his father Lionel Mayhew (Adrian Scarborough), the headmaster of a small rural school, struggling to care for his wife Marjorie Mayhew (Anne-Marie Duff), brain-damaged in an accident and prone to strange behavior, while raising his son and twin daughters. Lionel is warm-hearted and proud of his gifted son, but Edward occasionally struggles with anger. The family struggles financially and their modest home is chaotic, a stark contrast to the stifling restraint of Florence’s family, where her snobby, disapproving mother Violet Ponting (Emily Watson) and driven, successful businessman father Geoffrey Ponting (Samuel West) put enormous conformist pressure on Florence and her younger sister Ruth (Bebe Cave).

One cannot fault the production values of this film and its careful attention to details, historical and otherwise. In addition to the lush photography and well-chosen locations, the film features impressive make-up in scenes where Ronan and Howle play Florence and Edward in their 60s, where the actors look convincingly like how they might look at that age rather than just a few wrinkles and gray hair. Careful attention was played to Florence’s playing as the lead violinist in a string quartet.

The striking vistas of Chesil Beach heighten the drama in the scenes that take place there.  The film takes a warm romantic tone in the flashbacks of the budding romance, with touching and sweet lighter moments but that tone shifts to a more distant one for the wedding night. This couple is truly in love but things get awkward, for both them and the audience, as the pair fumble with consummating their marriage, with some shattering consequences.

ON CHESIL BEACH builds a touching but frankly-told period love story that underscores the power of social-sexual attitudes over love and how life can turn on moment to moment choices. But the film’s near-clinical awkward sex scene may cause some audience discomfort and the ending may divide audiences.

ON CHESIL BEACH opens Friday, May 25, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars