I was overall disappointed when I finally saw the film. I read the book ahead of time, which was much better, and that probably heightened my expectations of the film.
To keep this brief, the 3 strongest parts were Kate Winslet's acting ability, the costumes, and the set design. The 3 weakest parts were the casting, the pace, and the acting of everyone else.
GOOD
1. Kate Winslet's acting: as always, Winslet was brilliant. She conveyed every emotion perfectly, and completely stole the film.
2. The costumes: this was massively important, as it is a central plot point. The dresses were spectacular, and they did a good job of making Una Stubbs' dresses ugly too.
3. Set design: they perfectly captured Tilly's little cottage, the smudgy town, and the desolate landscapes. It was visually stunning, and I love the lavender on the porch.
BAD
1. The casting: this was the biggest problem for me. While Kate was phenomenal, no amount of good acting made me overlook the blatant age gap between her and her co-stars. Tilly is supposed to be a YOUNG girl- not 40. She was 15 years older than her love interest, Liam Hemsworth. Sarah Snook who played Gertrude Pratt, a girl supposed to be her age too, was about 12 years younger than her.
It made it worse that they tried to act like they were all the same age, because they were clearly so far from it. It was distracting and off-putting. They either should have cast elder costars for Winslet or a younger actress to play Tilly Dunnage. Imagine Idris Elba playing a KKK leader- he could act perfectly, but his looks would make it hard for the audience to believe it entirely.
Her body was also an issue. While she is a knockout, and has aged incredibly well, no one can pretend that she looks 25- or that her figure does. The idea that men would literally be stumbling and tripping over themselves because of her appearance at the rugby game was just not feasible.
2. The pace: the pace was choppy and unprofessional. The first half was pure comedy, and the second half all of a sudden became drama. They tried to include many plot points from the book, which made it feel more rushed and forced important details to be hastily shoved together. One part that they really shouldn't have rushed was the process of Teddy courting Tilly. In the book it took quite a while, where the movie version had Tilly going out with Teddy almost instantly. It took away from the suffering she had supposedly gone through in her past when she so quickly fell in love again.
3. The acting: I don't know if perhaps Australian films just have a different style, but as a Canadian watching, the entire thing felt overacted by the supporting cast. The attempted humour completely fell flat because no one knew the meaning of subtlety. I've seen descriptions calling it a "black comedy" and let me straighten that out right now-it is not at all.
Judy Davis has gotten a lot of chatter on her role, and I will agree that her emotional parts were acted superbly. The "funny" parts, less so. However, I know what caliber of actress she is, as well as Caroline Goodall, which leads me to conclude that the fault lay with poor direction- not lack of talent.
Overall, I was just waiting for it to end. If you are to watch it, perhaps you will not agree with my review, but I wanted to post it for reference regardless.
To keep this brief, the 3 strongest parts were Kate Winslet's acting ability, the costumes, and the set design. The 3 weakest parts were the casting, the pace, and the acting of everyone else.
GOOD
1. Kate Winslet's acting: as always, Winslet was brilliant. She conveyed every emotion perfectly, and completely stole the film.
2. The costumes: this was massively important, as it is a central plot point. The dresses were spectacular, and they did a good job of making Una Stubbs' dresses ugly too.
3. Set design: they perfectly captured Tilly's little cottage, the smudgy town, and the desolate landscapes. It was visually stunning, and I love the lavender on the porch.
BAD
1. The casting: this was the biggest problem for me. While Kate was phenomenal, no amount of good acting made me overlook the blatant age gap between her and her co-stars. Tilly is supposed to be a YOUNG girl- not 40. She was 15 years older than her love interest, Liam Hemsworth. Sarah Snook who played Gertrude Pratt, a girl supposed to be her age too, was about 12 years younger than her.
It made it worse that they tried to act like they were all the same age, because they were clearly so far from it. It was distracting and off-putting. They either should have cast elder costars for Winslet or a younger actress to play Tilly Dunnage. Imagine Idris Elba playing a KKK leader- he could act perfectly, but his looks would make it hard for the audience to believe it entirely.
Her body was also an issue. While she is a knockout, and has aged incredibly well, no one can pretend that she looks 25- or that her figure does. The idea that men would literally be stumbling and tripping over themselves because of her appearance at the rugby game was just not feasible.
2. The pace: the pace was choppy and unprofessional. The first half was pure comedy, and the second half all of a sudden became drama. They tried to include many plot points from the book, which made it feel more rushed and forced important details to be hastily shoved together. One part that they really shouldn't have rushed was the process of Teddy courting Tilly. In the book it took quite a while, where the movie version had Tilly going out with Teddy almost instantly. It took away from the suffering she had supposedly gone through in her past when she so quickly fell in love again.
3. The acting: I don't know if perhaps Australian films just have a different style, but as a Canadian watching, the entire thing felt overacted by the supporting cast. The attempted humour completely fell flat because no one knew the meaning of subtlety. I've seen descriptions calling it a "black comedy" and let me straighten that out right now-it is not at all.
Judy Davis has gotten a lot of chatter on her role, and I will agree that her emotional parts were acted superbly. The "funny" parts, less so. However, I know what caliber of actress she is, as well as Caroline Goodall, which leads me to conclude that the fault lay with poor direction- not lack of talent.
Overall, I was just waiting for it to end. If you are to watch it, perhaps you will not agree with my review, but I wanted to post it for reference regardless.