Premise: A high school girl with big ambitions in 1960s London gets caught up in a romance with a much older man.
I think a decade is about my limit for really remembering movies. Anything longer than that since I last saw even a movie I like, and it really dims in my mind. So, I was happy to rewatch this. I originally saw this movie shortly after it came out. I mainly saw it at the time for this Carey Mulligan woman who was getting all the nominations that year. I remembered being very impressed by her but little else.
Upon rewatch, I liked this even more than I remembered. Carey Mulligan is delightful. This actually would pair pretty well with Promising Young Woman, now that I think of it. Two sides of a similar coin. What I forgot is that Alfred Molina and Rosamund Pike are absolute hoots throughout the movie. It's got Emma Thompson and Sally Hawkins showing up for nearly cameo roles. Peter Sarsgaard plays his specialty: a sleazebag who appears charming. It's hard to find a weak link in this cast, even though Mulligan is rightfully the stand out star.
What works so well about the movie is how it knows the audience is watching this with dread but ignores that for so long. In a slightly different context, Jenny (Mulligan) and David's (Sarsgaard) relationship would make for a great RomCom. He's charming. She's witty. He's free-spirited. She's serious about her future. I watch this wanting to find the way that this doesn't end awfully. But, for each sweet moment, there are a dozen flashing red warning signs. This is a deeply uncomfortable movie pretending to be a sweet movie. Again, similar to the facades in Promising Young Woman. Man, I'm really talking myself into this double-feature...
The movie does end a bit abruptly and with a whimper. I think that's partly by design. It's in the title. This is only meant to be a lesson for Jenny, not a catastrophe. It's nice that she comes out alright rather than receiving the Daisy Miller treatment.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment