The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

It's the beginning of our new season, we needed a crowd-pleaser to start with and pull in the members so I suggested this film. Fortunately it seemed to work as the film went down well and we actually secured a few new members. I'd seen the film at the cinema, and watching it again made me appreciate how well it was structured, although I don't think I'd rush out to buy the source novel.

Here are my notes:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

UK 2018          123 minutes

Director:          Mike Newell

Starring:            Lily James, Michel Huisman, Glen Powell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Katherine Parkinson, Matthew Goode, Tom Courtenay and Penelope Wilton

“Buoyed by a reliably appealing star turn from [Lily] James, this handsome tearjerker mostly sidesteps the tweeness of its title to become, somehow, both an old-fashioned romance and a detective story trumpeting gender equality.”

Harry Windsor, The Hollywood Reporter

In 1946 author Juliet Ashton (Lily James) decides to visit the island of Guernsey after Dawsey Adams (Michel Huisman), a local man with whom she has been in correspondence, tells her about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which had been established during the Nazi occupation of the island. Juliet plans to write just about the Society but gradually she begins to be drawn into island life as she learns what happened there during the war.

The film is an adaptation of the epistolary novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows: Shaffer had been fascinated by the Nazi occupation of Guernsey and had spent years researching the subject before beginning to write the novel but then became too ill to finish it. Annie Burrows is Shaffer’s niece and, as a successful author in her own right, was able to take over the novel and complete it ready for publication after which it became a global best-seller.

Kate Winslet had initially been cast in the role of Juliet but had to drop out when production of the film was delayed. Subsequently both Michelle Dockery and Rosamund Pike were approached to take on the leading role before Lily Jams was finally cast. Lily James made her name in Downton Abbey which also included Jessica Brown Findlay, Matthew Goode and Penelope Wilton, all of whom already had impressive stage and screen credits to their name, as regular cast members. However since her role in Downton Abbey Lily James has significantly extended her own list of credits with a series of major roles: she played the lead in the recent BBC adaptation of War and Peace, and after playing title role lead in Kenneth Branagh’s live action film of Cinderella (2015) she also appeared in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), Darkest Hour (2017) and, most recently, as young Donna in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).

Mike Newell started his career in television where his early work includes Dance with a Stranger (1985) Enchanted April (1992) and Into the West (1992). He came to international prominence in the cinema with Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and since then his eclectic career has included literary adaptations such as An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) and Great Expectations (2012) as well as blockbusters such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010). His future projects include an untitled film about the death of Alexander Litvinenko as well as a new version of The Day of the Triffids.

UK 2018          123 minutes

Director:          Mike Newell

Starring:            Lily James, Michel Huisman, Glen Powell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Katherine Parkinson, Matthew Goode, Tom Courtenay and Penelope Wilton

“Buoyed by a reliably appealing star turn from [Lily] James, this handsome tearjerker mostly sidesteps the tweeness of its title to become, somehow, both an old-fashioned romance and a detective story trumpeting gender equality.”

Harry Windsor, The Hollywood Reporter

In 1946 author Juliet Ashton (Lily James) decides to visit the island of Guernsey after Dawsey Adams (Michel Huisman), a local man with whom she has been in correspondence, tells her about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which had been established during the Nazi occupation of the island. Juliet plans to write just about the Society but gradually she begins to be drawn into island life as she learns what happened there during the war.

The film is an adaptation of the epistolary novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows: Shaffer had been fascinated by the Nazi occupation of Guernsey and had spent years researching the subject before beginning to write the novel but then became too ill to finish it. Annie Burrows is Shaffer’s niece and, as a successful author in her own right, was able to take over the novel and complete it ready for publication after which it became a global best-seller.

Kate Winslet had initially been cast in the role of Juliet but had to drop out when production of the film was delayed. Subsequently both Michelle Dockery and Rosamund Pike were approached to take on the leading role before Lily Jams was finally cast. Lily James made her name in Downton Abbey which also included Jessica Brown Findlay, Matthew Goode and Penelope Wilton, all of whom already had impressive stage and screen credits to their name, as regular cast members. However since her role in Downton Abbey Lily James has significantly extended her own list of credits with a series of major roles: she played the lead in the recent BBC adaptation of War and Peace, and after playing title role lead in Kenneth Branagh’s live action film of Cinderella (2015) she also appeared in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), Darkest Hour (2017) and, most recently, as young Donna in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).

Mike Newell started his career in television where his early work includes Dance with a Stranger (1985) Enchanted April (1992) and Into the West (1992). He came to international prominence in the cinema with Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and since then his eclectic career has included literary adaptations such as An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) and Great Expectations (2012) as well as blockbusters such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010). His future projects include an untitled film about the death of Alexander Litvinenko as well as a new version of The Day of the Triffids.

Here's a link to the trailer:

Viceroy's House

For the first film of our new season we chose this film: it fulfilled the basic selection criteria in that several of the committee had seen and enjoyed it. The added bonus was the presence in the cast of Hugh Bonneville: and we ended up with the best attended film since Mamma Mia - quite a few years ago.

The audience was thirsty so the bar had healthy takings and the film went down very well.

Here are my notes:

Viceroy’s House

USA 2016        103 minutes

Director:          Gurinder Chadha

Starring:            Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi and Michael Gambon

 “…I found myself increasingly gripped by Chadha’s handsome period drama – impressed by the accessibility of its history-primer narrative, entertained by its warm wit and occasionally boisterous charm, and moved by its melodramatic contrivances, which turn out to be more rooted in fact that one might imagine.”

Mark Kermode

In 1947 Lord Louis Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) has been given the task of bringing about the transition of India from its role as the jewel in Britain’s imperial crown to an independent state. As he and his wife Edwina (Gillian Anderson) oversee the complex process, clashes between the conflicting political and religious forces are resolved only by the partition of the country into two separate states; as a result of this there is a massive displacement of refugees who have to risk everything to seek sanctuary within their newly defined homelands.

Chadha’s objective for her screenplay was to tell the story of the shared history of India and Pakistan in the style of the British historical epic: thus she placed the Viceroy’s House at the centre of the story. Her plan was for an Upstairs, Downstairs approach that looked at life both in the state rooms and the servant’s quarters; for her it was important that the Indian characters were not marginalised, and thus she ensured that they would have equal screen time with the white members of the cast. Initially she was annoyed that Downton Abbey reached the screens while she was still planning her film, although its subsequent global success popularised her chosen genre and also gave her Hugh Bonneville to play the key role of the Viceroy. Chadha’s own family was affected by the partition of India and she reveals the details of their history in an epilogue to the film.

In addition to its dramatization of the complex politics of partition and its impact on the population the film also uses recent research that revealed Churchill’s responsibility for the chaos that resulted from his promotion of the establishment of a separate Pakistan as a strategic counter-balance to a left-leaning India. From a British perspective this division allowed Britain to retain influence in Karachi, an important port on the coast of the Arabian Sea and the capital of a country strategically located on the borders of Afghanistan, thus making it a vital counter to any threat of Soviet expansion southwards.

Gurinder Chadha was born in Kenya before moving to the UK with her family while still a young child. Her early work explored the lives of Indians living in Britain and drew on her own experience: her first film was the BAFTA nominated Bhaji on the Beach (1993) and she made her name internationally with her second feature, Bend It Like Beckham (2002), which also made a star of Keira Knightley. She followed this with Bride and Prejudice (2004), a Bollywood version of Jane Austen’s novel, which opened at Number One in both the UK and India. Viceroy’s House received its first screening at the Berlin Film Festival and has recently been dubbed into Hindi for release in India.

 Here is the trailer:

 

 

The Lady in the Van

This was the final film of our season. Fortunately the DVD release was just in time for us to show it.

Our history shows us that Alan Bennett (The History Boys) and Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotels et al as well as Downton Abbey) have always been popular so the combination of the two was irresistible.

It was also a very good film, although not quite the comedy the poster seemed to imply.

Here are my notes:

The Lady in the Van

UK 2015                      104 minutes

Director:                      Nicholas Hytner

Starring:                        Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Frances de la Tour and Roger Allam

Awards and Nominations

• Won Best Actress Award (Maggie Smith) at the Evening Standard British Film Awards
• Nominations for Best Actress (Maggie Smith) at the Golden Globes and BAFTA Film Awards

“Having come a cropper with his screen adaptation of The History Boys in 2006, director Nicholas Hytner here hits the high notes that distinguished his 1994 stage-to-screen triumph The Madness of King George.”

Mark Kermode

In the 1970s Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings) offers the temporary use of the drive to his north London house to a homeless woman (Maggie Smith). She parks her battered van outside his front door – and stays there for 15 years.

The film is based on Bennett’s 1999 stage play which itself derives from the piece he had written about Miss Shepherd in his book Writing Home, and it reunites many people who have worked with him over the years.  Maggie Smith appeared in A Private Function (1984), Bennett’s first screenplay for the big screen and created the role of Miss Shepherd in the stage version of The Lady in the Van. The play was directed by Hytner, who has directed all of Bennett’s recent stage work, mostly at the National Theatre.  Hytner and Bennett’s previous film was The History Boys (2006) and the principal cast members from this production, with the exception of Frances de la Tour who has a supporting role, appear in cameo roles in this film.

As a stage actor Alex Jennings has won three Olivier awards for his work, which has been mostly with the RSC or at the National Theatre.  Here he has worked many times with Nicholas Hytner and first appeared in a play by Bennett when he had a leading role in The Habit of Art.  He subsequently played Alan Bennett on stage in Untold Stories Bennett’s dramatization of one of his autobiographical sketches. He is a skilled mimic, and in addition to Bennett he has played characters as diverse as Prince Charles in The Queen (2006) and President George Bush in Stuff Happens, David Hare’s “history play” about the Iraq War, once again directed by Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre. 

Here is the trailer:

 

The Book Thief

Tomorrow is the first proper screening of our new season and we will be showing The Book Thief.  I've not read the novel , but it's a film I've wanted to see for a while - despite the less than enthusiastic reviews. 

After binging on WW1 history books recently I've now moved on to Nazi Germany and after finishing The Origins of the Third Reich, which covered German history from unification through to 1932/33, the second volume - The Third Reich in Power - covers the period up to war in 1939.  The final volume The Third Reich at War covers the period from 1939 to the end of the Third Reich, and that is next on my reading list.  The books are all masterpieces of research and writing and put the whole terrible history of the rise of Hitler and the Nazis into fascinating context.

Hence this film has come along at an opportune time.

As I could few reviews that could offer  positive headline quotes I've selected a few anti-Nazi (and anti anyone else who burns books for political or ideological reasons) quotations instead.

Here are my notes:

The Book Thief

USA 2013                    131 minutes

Director:                      Brian Percival

Starring:                        Roger Allam, Sophie Nelisse, Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson

Awards and Nominations

• Nominated for Oscar for Best Score (John Williams)
• 3 wins for Sophie Nelisse 
• A further 4 nominations.

“Wherever books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too."

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

 “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police.  Yet in their hearts there is unspoken - unspeakable! - fear.  They are afraid of words and thoughts!  Words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home, all the more powerful because they are forbidden.  These terrify them.  A little mouse - a little tiny mouse! - of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic."

            Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

In Nazi Germany Liesel (Sophie Nelisse), an illiterate young orphan is taken in by foster parents Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa (Emily Watson).  Liesel learns to read and after witnessing a Nazi book burning begins to steal books to read.  Her story is narrated by Death (Roger Allam) and he finally tells what happened to Liesel after she survived the war.

The film is based on the Young Adult novel of the same name by Australian author Marcus Zusak that was on the New York Times Best Seller List for more than four years.  However although a work of fiction the story is set against genuine historical events: from the time that it consolidated its seizure of power in 1933 the Nazis instituted book-burning campaigns against authors whose work was deemed subversive or which undermined Nazi ideology; Kristallnacht was a Nazi pogrom against Jews in both Germany and Austria in November 1938; and the Second World War broke out in September 1939.

Brian Percival started his career with the BBC where he directed several prestige projects including adaptations of North and South, The Ruby in the Smoke and The Old Curiosity Shop.  Since then he has worked for ITV where he has directed six episodes of Downton Abbey. The Book Thief is his first film. 

Here's the trailer:

And here's the sound track

 

Downton Abbey Exclusive

Today I can exclusively reveal that the next series of Downton Abbey will include a scene set at a fete - and I will not be in it.

When we went to the local fete - my wife bought up the-plant stall and I made a beeline for the books, I noticed a stall advertising for extras for the next series of Downton Abbey.

I was interested - inevitably - but the date did not work: filming was during the week, and unfortunately I do not have the leave left to take time off.

The high point of the afternoon was seeing Penelope Wilton opening the fete.  apparently she has some kind of role in Downton Abbey, but to me she will always be Harriet Jones - one of a whole range of ancillary characters in Doctor Who.

I resisted the temptation to say "I know who you are"...