Ein Festtag

So this film is simply gorgeous.

It has a period feel but isn't stuffy. There are as many scenes without clothes as with them - and the actors are beautifully unselfconscious and believable.

The Nivens: an unfathomably brittle, broken and grieving mother (Olivia Coleman) and gentle, empty and lost father and husband (Colin Firth) are exquisitely cast and played - Firth visibly flinches in pain and empathy as Cole snaps at his continued efforts at politeness and generosity to friends. Their lack of sons is palpable in Firth's playing or Mr Niven's gentle paternal encouragement of all the young people they share their lives with (the maid and narrator included) and Cole's sharp silence.

The character of the narrator binds the temporal shifts together as we see how the events of one day can impact a whole life. Amazing acting from Odessa Young makes this film a joy to watch.

The only complaint is the slightly obvious addition of the narrator as an old woman (Glenda Jackson) - this trope is, no doubt, in the source material but could have been omitted as it only serves to make the structure a little cliched.

Otherwise a wonderful and sumptuous - and incredibly well acted - film which is well worth watching over and over again .

The scenery is incredible, as is the performances of Colin Firth and Olivia Colman.

The rest of the movie is incredibly disjointed, and because there is no actual emotion or feeling between the two main characters, Odessa Young and Josh O'Connor, it quickly became annoying. There is only so much cigarette smoking a person can watch before you realize, I suppose, this is the point where the viewer is supposed to be emotionally touched. The problem is, I wasn't. Ever.

This felt like going to a beautiful restaurant and waiting so long for your meal that by the time it's gets there you want to throw the plate on the floor.

Much of the movie is beyond belief, such as the maidservant (who, between the wars, works for the wealthy Niven family), wandering naked through a manor house, seemingly unconcerned that the owners may show up...for over an hour.

At every turn, I kept thinking, here it is, we must be getting to the point...but 'the point' simply never happened.

A waste of talent and scenery, however it is worth watching simply for the performances of Firth and Colman. They are outstanding.

A young house maid (Odessa Young) to The Nivens (Colin Firth/ Olivia Coleman) visits her lover (Josh O'Connor) for the last time, whilst The Nivens visit the neighbours to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of their son, O'Connor, who obviously is otherwise engaged.

A film you need real patience for, as the bulk of the run time is taken up with a fairly straightforward tale of young lovers within the English upper classes - Upstairs, Downstairs if you will - and gently and nicely done it is.

It is worth waiting though, for quite a long way in, things develop dramatically that you probably won't expect, affecting the young couple, The Nivens and their neighbours which is handled magnificently. Odessa Young does a fine job holding all this together in the starring role, but support from Coleman and Firth is the high point, with a special treat with essentially just one scene featuring the great Glenda Jackson. Overall, slow to be sure, but ultimately cleverly written and rather moving.

The title "Mothering Sunday" might suggest that this would be a good one to take your ol' mum to see as 'a nice treat'. Which indeed you might like to do, as long as you set the expectations first! For this is a beautifully crafted, if flawed, story of life after the First World War. A movie that has less focus on those killed in battle and more on those left behind.

Positives:

• This movie looks stunning (cinematography by Jamie Ramsay), from the opening close-up shots of Odessa Young, through bucolic bike-riding in England's leafy lanes to the luscious love-making scenes. All perfectly staged and beautifully lit. You could take many of the stills from this movie and grace the walls of an art exhibition with them.

• Where has Odessa Young come from? The Sydney-born actress is just fabulous here, commanding a real presence for the camera. It's a brave performance too with sex and extensive full-frontal nudity. This includes a naked wander through the old house that might feel exploitative if the writer or director had been a man. (The ladies also get full-frontal views of Josh O'Connor which adds balance to the film. This is, frankly, so often lacking in films of this type).

• The rest of the acting from the ensemble cast is also top-notch. Colin Firth is just squirm-inducingly awful (in a great way) as Mr Niven, always tiptoeing around the tension in a very English way with platitudes about the weather. Olivia Colman is also magnificent: when is she not? I saw one user review on here saying that she "dialled in her performance" which I couldn't disagree with more. She's a living portrait of grief and anger. "You're so lucky", she says to Jane at one point, "to be so comprehensively bereaved at birth". The fact that she does virtually nothing with her face until a single dramatic explosion is the epitome of perfect acting, where 'less is more'.

• I liked the way that the film properly reflected the social damage of the war. We've been here before, with episodes of "Downton Abbey" for example, but the fact that this is set so many years after the conflict but that it was still so invasive gave me room for much thought.

• Complementing a strong female team behind the camera is composer Morgan Kibby with an interesting and engaging score.

Negatives:

• The events shown have a wraparound story showing Jane's later writing life, both in a mid-life relationship with philosopher Donald (Sope Dirisu) and her elderly life (where Jane is portrayed by Glenda Jackson). It is a genuine delight to see Ms Jackson on the screen again: astonishingly, according to IMDB, her last big-screen appearance was back in 1990! However, these structural elements of the story didn't work for me. Although I might be accused of 'not understanding what the writer was trying to do' (incorrect, I do), there is a case here, at least in the movie version, for a 'simple is good' approach. I think the underlying story set in 1924 was gripping and engaging enough not to require the complexity introduced by these later scenes. I'd have preferred a simpler 90-minute film focused on that story. (I've not read Graham Swift's book: perhaps this all works better as a novel?)
• Typecasting is a terrible thing, but Josh O'Connor has such a striking resemblance to Prince Charles that it's sometimes difficult not to think "Ooh, I've just seen the future king's bits"!

Summary Thoughts on "Mothering Sunday": It's the acting and the cinematography that sets this apart for me. Although it had its irritations, I found this to be a beautiful and engaging watch. The story is perhaps a tad predictable. But overall this is a nicely crafted and thought-provoking film that gets a thumbs up from me.

(For the full graphical review, check out #onemannsmovies online. Thanks.)

Eva Husson's first English-language film, 'Mothering Sunday,' is a lusty, deeply melancholy portrayal of loss and its lasting impact that often feels disjointed and uneven. It's pretty to look at with impressive performances (and sizzling chemisty) from Odessa Young and Josh O'Connor but, unfortunately, doesn't offer much else.