3 gibbles outta 5

Director: James Ivory

I’m sure this is all thrilling and beautiful if you’re a Merchant-Ivory fan or dig period piece stuff. I am neither. Yet onward goes my review! (You can thank me later.) The film follows Helena-Bonham Carter and associates through a typical tale of girl pledging herself to the wrong man, while the sexy, brooding blond poet is waiting and hoping to woo her the whole while. You know where the film is going. Surprises are not why you watch it – the Merchant-Ivory sheen and production values are. And it is a nice gloss – admittedly, the scene of naked men romping about in a lake has some kind of innocent charm to it, and Mr. Day-Lewis is fun to watch as the oddball love interest. It’s just sort of understated. Again, a Merchant-Ivory quality. But the momentous decisions don’t seem so momentous and the joyous togethering of characters at the end doesn’t seem like so much of an accomplishment. The character’s don’t have to fight too much to get to where they’re going, neither does the viewer have to fight to much while watching the film. Nothing new, but nothing horrible either.

(migrated from my Netflix review)