Monday, April 30, 2018

Delayed Reaction: Suite Francaise

The Pitch: There's only too many stories about WWII as long as we keep making movies about WWII.

A woman in occupied France falls for a German soldier.

There's this movie I hear about. It's a mid-level budget British period production. It's got four-time Oscar nominee and all-around delightful actress Michelle Williams. It has Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas. There's familiar British actors like Ruth Wilson and Sam Riley and less familiar Western European actors like Matthias Schoienaerts. It even has Margot Robbie in a small role, before she became a known quantity. This film couldn't find a U.S. release and ended up premiering on the Lifetime network, where, despite all these credentials, it wasn't even a blip on the Emmy radar.

I didn't have high hopes for this movie, because there was probably a reason it had to premiere on Lifetime and ended up ignored (Remember, Grace of Monaco met the same fate). Still, I'm watching something with Michelle Williams and Margot Robbie. That's just how I roll. And, it was about what I expected. Decent production value. I liked some of the shifting allegiances in the village with their German captors. I didn't really buy the romance between Williams and Shcoienaerts, which I'm entirely laying the blame on Shcoienaerts because I refuse to blame Williams for anything until I absolutely must.

If you are really desperate for a period romance or WWII movie that's not about the actual war, you could do a lot worse. I'm mostly happy to see this because it means I'm only two mediocre Australian thriller movies away from seeing Margot Robbie's entire filmography.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

No comments:

Post a Comment