I figured since this movie was nominated for a few Oscars, I might as well see it. To be honest, I probably didn’t need to in order to tell exactly what it would be and I wish I wouldn’t have spent the two hours.
What Works: Well…uhhh…Janet McTeer and Glenn Close have both been nominated for Oscars for their portrayals of women masquerading as men, and they both really commit to the roles. Their transformations almost make us forget that the movie we’re watching isn’t really that good and (at least in Close’s case) they aren’t playing characters that are all that interesting. Also, Mia Wasicowski (I know I didn’t spell that right, but you know who I mean) breathes some life into this claustrophobic movie every time she’s on screen, even if she’s playing out the world’s oldest story of a girl who must decide between love (really just sex) and money.
What Doesn’t Work: Like I said, this movie is big time claustrophobic, predictable, just generally rigid and lifeless. And here’s the biggest problem: Close’s title character isn’t anyone worth knowing. She spends the whole movie just acting odd, miserable, pathetic, and weirdly self-contained, as if it would be impossible to really get to know her and by the end I didn’t care.
What I Would Have Done Differently: I can’t say I would be much help here. The truth is that I actually Hate movies like this with a capital h. And by that I mean these old time British or Irish turn of the century movies where there’s caste systems and etiquette lessons and lords and duchesses and general stuffiness…the whole thing makes my skin crawl and eyes glaze over (it’s the same reason that Downtown Abbey is ridiculously overpraised on television). I’m not nostalgic for that time period, don’t miss it, don’t know it, can’t relate to it, and don’t find it interesting as it has now been covered by ten films every year for the past fifty years. It doesn’t speak to the times we’re in and I don’t know that any little tweaks I could make would get me past this revulsion.