jane_concannon

I am a fan of food and movies so was really disappointed when I saw this last night. Also it had many good or very good reviews on IMDb.

Before I start criticising the film, I would just like to say that I have enjoyed many foodie moves previously, such as Chocolate and Julie & Julia, so this was not the problem for me. Also I am a fan of Helen Mirren.

Right from the start I knew it was going to be overly sentimental and totally unrealistic. Also you could see all the story lines coming a mile off.

I also found the acting very unconvincing and the characters very 2-dimensional and stereotyped.

It was also at least 30 minutes to long, and seemed to take forever to wrap up.

My only enjoyment was seeing some of that area of France, which looked very charming.

My husband was also bored, it wasn't just me!

I've watched the first 3 episodes (out of 4 I think) and am really enjoying this, as is my husband.

It is an intriguing mystery about a young woman found dead in an attic many months after her death, and a cop's attempts to find out who did it and why nobody noticed she was missing for so long.

For a TV drama, I'm finding this particularly gripping. It is very well directed and acted, particularly from the victim and the 17 year old son of the journalist. And its nice to see Russell Tovey's and Stephen Mackintosh's darker side - they are both very good too.

I can't think what else to write in this tenth line other that to recommend that you give it a go on catch up or catch it next time.

My reasons for seeing this film were as follows: I quite like period dramas, it was an adaptation of a classic book, it had a good cast, it looked well-made in the trailer. I was hopeful of maybe even seeing a film of the quality of The Duchess or Dangerous Liaisons.

Well how wrong could I have been? Myself and my friend both looked at each other when the film ended and said what a load of rubbish it was!

Whilst most of the cast were very good (especially Philip Glenister and Kristin Scott Thomas), Robert Pattinson spoilt all of their efforts. Not only was his acting awful and unconvincing, he looked completely unappealing, which I'm sure was not the intention as he was playing a man who is irresistible to women. I was also left totally confused as to what his character was about; one minute he seemed to be a uneducated loser, the next a calculating swine. Also, I'm never sure what he actually did to elevate himself from abject poverty to high level politics except sleep with everybody's wives.

All in all then a confusing and badly-made mess. One to maybe have a go at on TV rather than see at the cinema.