Lady Godiva

Vicky Jewson shows a talent and flair on the level of Scorsese in Goodfellas with her debut masterpiece Lady Godiva. After seeing this film, i now realize that all other films are meaningless by comparison. This film is a shining example of true British female directing talent...of which their is little, unlike the UAE where females are allowed to direct larger budget films. Vicky Jewson should direct the next James Bond film, because of her godlike skill in getting great performances from her exceptional cast. Vicky Jewson for president. I just hope people realize the greatness

G-Pal

Oh gosh where to start. I saw Miss Jewson being interviewed on Chris Jones' web site where she spoke about this film. Interested I logged on here to look at some reviews and was shocked at the viciousness of the comments (some of them personal, which reflect more on the reviewers than the reviewed!). Now intrigued I bought a copy off amazon and sat down with the 'misses' to watch it.

Well I have to say - yes it is a stinker, but it reminded me of a TV adaptation of one of Jilly Cooper's novels 'Riders' which was also awful but interestingly so awful people liked it! It was unintentionally hilarious and this is in the same category.

Watching it is like sucking on a lemon and trying not to wince. It is full of cringingley clichéd moments that you find yourself looking away from and feeling embarrassed.

But hey this site does not need another person slagging this film off so hats off Miss Jewson for getting a feature made, and on that patronising note I think I'll finish the review. Except to say in years to come I'm sure the director will have a laugh at her own expense and think: 'what was I doing?'

Unlike another reviewer I was not lucky enough to win tickets for this movie at the premiere. However I eventually joined an unfortunately small audience locally a few months later to see the film with an introduction from director Vicky Jewson. I'd recently seen 'The Oxford Murders' introduced by John Hurt and whereas the star of the latter film seemed disinterested in the film that was to follow his short and uninspired words Vicky clearly has a passion for film and most importantly this, her feature debut. The film, a human story, was more than suitably imagined by the humanity of its writer/director.

Despite reviews to the contrary the film appeared to be well received. I have never sat in such a quiet cinema and no-one was sleeping! The script worked a fine line between human and emotional drama and historical and darker visions preferring to keep to the former to create a fresh and certainly unique film. Michael (Matthew Chambers) is a little adrift in his acting style but it meets the requirements of his role, a slightly hapless play-boy famous for his horse breeding antics. He loves horses (his favourite called Lady Godiva) more than anything but this is about to change when he meets Jemima (Phoebe Thomas), a kooky art teacher who dreams of continuing to run an art space created by her recently deceased brother. Aside from the beguiling romance there are themes including dealing with grief, bullying and simply taking responsibility leading to happiness. I do have complaints with the films though these are few, namely, with Oxfords' happening music scene it would have been great to have used local bands or even specially written songs to provide the soundtrack. Instead we are given James Morrison's 'Wonderful World' and McFly's 'Don't Stop Me Now' among others - though the latter does mention Lady Godiva in the lyrics. The songs are used as almost advert breaks, a kind of wake up call for those bored with the story and I wonder if the choice is partly down to the financial backers rather than Vicky herself. Either way its not a problem as such, more a pity, and regardless of preference the songs do work and provide - more than a break - a chance to mull over the striking scenes that have just occurred. My only other grievance is that something is slightly wrong with the May Day scene actually filmed not during the famous celebrations but at 4am one morning with extras and secretly from Police who had threatened arrest. I think the problem is because the entrance of our '21st Century Godiva' seems a little like a film set rather than a woman doing a naturally liberating act. Even this is difficult to fault based on the shear fact that May Day morning in Oxford is manic with celebration and revelling on a huge scale and quite how the crowds would react to a naked lady on a horse is unbeknownst. Thus to have pulled off what must have been one take filming of this nature is quite frankly breathtaking and a brilliant close to a really quite brilliant film.

Oxford looks truly beautiful in every scene and the film presents a stunning backdrop of Oxford as more than a university city and does so in vibrant colour and endurance. At times it seems like each cell had been hand painted such was the clear signs of devotion from the writer/director. Critically there is no obvious audience for Lady Godiva. Critics like raw and edgy films, a bout of sudden torture, a taboo breaking sex scene set to the music of Michael Nyman. Critics don't like human stories unless they feature someone impaired mentally or psychically. Here perhaps it is emotionally impaired characters but they are fascinating human examples and its' a true shame that the pompous air of critical theory is so strong. From an established filmmaker 'Lady Godiva' would be rich, scrumptious and very daring. From a newbie? It is honestly overwhelming and truly recommended.

To say that this is the worst film ever is probably the safest statement that I've made in my life. Where does it all go wrong? It's hard to know where to start but I guess that the beginning is a good place; the film opens with a naff historical reenactment of the Godiva legend which adds nothing to the film that follows but at least this part is reasonably well shot unlike the rest of this movie. Thereafter the film jolts about like an episode of Hollyoaks with simply the worst script and flimsiest characterisation of anything ever seen on screen. It is truly that awful! The story, which might have started as something worth telling, is ruined by appalling direction which jolts around unfathomably with characters acting out of character and for cheap laughs to the extent that after half an hour the amateurish crassness of the whole production isn't even funny any more. At several points I asked myself how the film could get worse only to find that the next scene eloquently answered my question. The saddest part is that I watched this film hoping to like it and believe that someone could fight the corporate film making machine from the outside. This however is an embarrassment to independent film makers everywhere, as though a bunch of drunk sixth formers had run amok with a camera. Nobody associated with this film apart from Phoebe Thomas emerges with any credit. Sorry.

After winning tickets to the premiere on local radio, I was looking forward to the event, but after reading up on the film's history was sceptical about the film.

The plot, while it touches on the original story, sends you off course all the time with poor direction, and what to me, was obviously at best a pretty poor script. The sub-plots tried to grab your attention, but in reality only increased your eagerness for the film to grind to a blundering halt. I don't want to be too harsh on the director, and whilst she could of perhaps done better, the "hollyoaks" style actors are mostly to blame. The lead male (matthew chambers) was no where near strong enough for the part, and, an already "fake" uninteresting side plot involving prince William (matthew Turpin), was made worse by the "prince's" acting. At times it looked like he was reading off an auto cue for direction. The film then, I would only recommend to die hard lady Godiva fans or girls/guys on a awful blind date, as their is a perfectly acceptable excuse for leaving early. Dire! I don't normally comment on film's but I usually check reviews before going and only see "good" ones, so as no one had commented I thought it was only my duty to try and save some peeps some money.

I'll give it a 2/10 as I saw a semi naked young lady riding into the premiere on horseback...

Thanks for reading, Jason