Miss Potter
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Movie Reviews of Miss Potter
Movie Review: THE Ultimate Love Story
Summary: 5 Stars
First, if you think Renee Zellweger can't be convincing as a turn-of-the-20th-century upper class London lady, you're wrong. Don't feel bad; I was too, and happy to find it out. That being out of the way---
"Love" is one of those words that has been worked to death by the greeting card companies, the pop music industry and just about every commercial enterprise you can think of. If you want to remember exactly what it means, this movie offers a good strong display of many of its best facets. To name only a few examples:
1. Familial love: Beatrix and her brother Bertram grew up sharing everything together from the nursery on. Though Bertram's character disappers from the story while he is still a child, the adult Beatrix stauchly defends him in his absence, which comes to pass because he "married beneath his station" for--of all the screwy motives--love. Beatrix loves her parents, and they love her, their inability to see eye-to eye on the subject of matrimony notwithstanding. Her publisher/suitor Norman Warne seems very much at peace with his family, too. Beatrix's father, Rupert, respects her enough to make his wife/her mother keenly aware that their daughter has done the family proud by becoming a famous published author and artist. Heavens above--a movie without a single dysfunctional family! Isn't that a miracle or something?
2. Romantic love: The development of the love between Beatrix and Norman Warne is wonderful--true mutual respect and admiration and support of one another as individuals evolves into something downright enviable by the standards of any age--and all without any nudity. From now on, if I ever hear the tune "Let Me Teach You How to Dance," it will bring a tear to my eye. And if I don't hear it ever again, that'll do the same thing.
4. Love between friends: The relationship between Beatrix and Warne's single 30-something sister, played admirably (as always) by Emily Watson, is female bonding at its best. These 2 are in a culture that thinks a woman must marry to have a future that consists of more than tea and crumpets. It's a real treat to watch these two defy the norm and support each other in that bent and in so many other things. Whether they are defying the culture around them or one is rescuing the other from the throes of debilitating grief, they are feminine strength at its best.
5. Love for your fellow humans: Beatrix respects Mr. Heelis no less when they are children--and he is a farmhand's son while she is an aristocrat's daughter vacationing in the country--than she does when they are adults and he is a soliciter (that's a lawyer to us Yanks). Her mother's references to "trades people" as if they were an inferior species are presented in a way that makes her attitude blatently absurd. And there's that subtle, understated affection between the servants in the Potter household and the young Potters, expecially Beatrix, that defies description.
6. Self love: That's meant in the positive sense, as in self respect. Beatrix respects herself enough as an artist to persist at her craft and her efforts to bring it to the masses, despite just about everyone's discouraging her to do so--till Norman. Speaking of whom, Norman Warne respects himself enough to insist that he be allowed to prove himself in the family publishing business--and then do it. His sister respects herself enough to remain respectable while not compromising to convention at all. (I love it when she wins the big money playing whist with the gentlemen at the Potters' Christmas party while the real "ladies" are in another parlour singing carols.)
7. Love of the earth: Though it hardly gets 10 minutes' exposure in the movie, do note that Beatrix Potter used the fortune she rightfully accumulated on her own to purchase 4000 acres of land in England's beautiful Lake District and preserve it in a trust for everyone to enjoy in perpetuity. The clamor of residential real estate developers to buy up farm land and "put it to a good use" plunked this story right into the present moment. I hope somebody besides me was taking heed.
Great performances, great scenery, great story, great directing, great photography. Great snakes, what are you doing sitting here reading about this great movie? SEE IT!
Movie Review: As We Watch Her Drawings Dance....
Summary: 5 Stars
Amid the beautiful and verdant English countryside, the tale of Beatrix Potter unfolds.
In the role of the title character, Renee Zellweger is pert, and simply done-up, but perhaps a bit too emphatic at times with the British accent that comes so naturally to her co-stars.
Through Chris Noonan's skillful and enchanting direction, we are privy to Miss Potter's initial meeting with the Warne Brothers at their publishing firm as her now-classic tale of Peter Rabbit is reluctantly launched by them.
The project is handed to the youngest Warne Brother,novice publisher, Norman, played by a sunny and amiable Ewan McGregor(with a strong resemblance to the actual Norman Warne), who in the company of Beatrix' elderly chaperone, Miss Wiggin(Matyelok Gibbs),introduces her to the publishing process.
We see her life at home in a cozy London apartment with her parents, Rupert and Helen (Bill Paterson, and Barbara Flynn). Her father, a lawyer who never really practiced his trade, spends most of his days at a men's club, but who has encouraged his daughter's artistic prowess since her childhood, as he was once an aspiring artist himself.
Her class-conscious mother disapproves of Beatrix' non-conformist lifestyle, but by insisting that the family summer in the Lake District, as is fashionable, ultimately provides her daughter with inspiration for a more desireable lifestyle, and for more fodder for her childrens' stories than she could have imagined.
Miss Potter has tea with Norman's mother(Phyllida Law) and becomes good friends with his sister, Millie (Emily Watson giving a performance with a lot of range, but mostly with strenghth).
In the meantime, we are treated to flashbacks of Beatrix' childhood, at home, and also in the Lake District where the little girl(Lucy Boynton) and her brother Bertram (Oliver Jenkins) roam about, chase the animals that Beatrix loves and loves to draw, where the caretaker's son William Heelis(Justin McDonald) takes an interest in her drawings and paintings, and she listens to stories about fairy beasts told to her by her nanny, Fiona (Patricia Flannigan). But like many imaginative children who become writers, Beatrix creates her own stories.
Interspersed with this tale of a teller of childrens' tales are moments when the drawings of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, and others of Beatrix Potter's now-world-famous menagerie of friends spring to life before our eyes--delightful moments that illustrate how real these characters were to their creator.
Beatrix' father is more impressed with her literary success than her mother, and Mrs. Potter reluctantly invites Norman and Millie to the family's Christmas party. The siblings hold up well amid the Potters' many titled guests, and there is more than one romantic moment between Norman and Beatrix.
Apprehensive about the romance between the two, the Potters coax their daughter to summer with them in the Lake District once again, to see if her feelings will change.Little does Beatrix realize that on this journey, she will be saying farewell to her past and hello to her future.
Tragedy strikes, but just beforehand, she reunites with her former acquaintance, William Heelis, who is now a country solicitor(played with charisma by a tall, clear-eyed, crinkly smiling, photogenic Lloyd Owen, who has delightfully rich coloring).
Ultimately, the childrens' author is compelled to make a life for herself on her own terms at a time when that was rare for women, and along the way, she discovers that someone close to her has the same regard for her watercolor and pen-and-ink pals as she has.
Viewers are treated to a gem of a true story, told with as much vivid imagination as the authoress herself might have had, if not more, and we glean from this sunny triumphant tale, lessons about independance, and of how life goes on after the worst happens.
"We must present ourselves to the world!" she tells her menagerie at the beginning, "and we must think of it as an adventure!"
Now the world can share in the adventure of the animal characters and their creator in a film that is destined to become a classic in its own right.
Movie Review: When He Taught Miss Potter How to Dance
Summary: 5 Stars
The guy at the video store told us that Miss Potter was the younger sister of Harry Potter and that if we loved Harry we would enjoy hearing about the branch of his family that talked to animals.
It was so cute. The animals the Potters consorted with are made of animation, so they move, dance and wiggle as Miss Potter talks to them. Sometimes, her drawing skills bring the papers to life and the papers crinkle up and twitch like a real duck would. Then she chuckles. "Naughty Jemima Puddle Duck," she murmurs throatily. It's Renee Zellweger from CHICAGO and COLD MOUNTAIN playing a Potter for the first time--she fits right in to the world of jolly old England circa the 1900s. Although the events of this latest Potter take place decades before Harry goes to Hogwarts Abbey, you get the same kind if family dynamic going on. In Victorian London little Beatrix is ignored and patronized by a mean mother and absent father and pesky little brother Bertram, just as Harry is abused and picked on by the Dursley family, fat old Uncle Vernon, nasty Petunia, and the little monster boy, Dudley Dursley. As we learn, as a girl Miss Potter was not allowed to attend Hogwarts Academy (nor any school, for most girls were educated at home by governesses and private tutors).
The DVD features a great documentary about the real life Miss Potter who, due to her snobby family's imposing connections, became acquainted with the great Pre-Raphaelite painter Millsis (1829-1896), who praised the intricate nature drawings of little Miss Potter and encouraged her in her task of bringing the animals to life. Fans of the Potter series will enjoy the documentary about Peter Rabbit and how he came to be. Ewan McGregor (from STAR WARS and MOULIN ROUGE) plays the love interest, Norman Warne, who encourages Miss Potter to talk to the animals. For Christmas she makes him a special present, a painting of the rabbit's Christmas party, which he treasures as long as he lives.
A lovely romance ensues, with not just Norman, but also with Willie Heelis, a gardener boy (or something), and later on in life Miss Potter finally gets it together to buy all the land surrounding Hill Top Farm and turn it into eternal preserve of beauty in the Lake District of England.
The Potters guard an ancestral treasure that plays a secret melody when Norman touches it, a music box encoded with the heartrending theme song, When You Taught Me How to Dance. This theme is also sung over the credits by Katie Melua, the Georgian/Irish pop singer who made this track a hit in Lake District gift shops and in tea rooms in San Francisco here when we want a shot of Potter-mania, we hear it. Its delicate air is like a breath of spring, and yet it has a fey note of shadowy foreboding to it, as though somewhere around the corner, lurks the shadow of the First World War and, or am I reaching, the hideous form of Lord Voldemort, with words by Richard Maltby Jr. screenwriter of this latest Potter film, and music by Mike Batt--who wrote the haunting song "Bright Eyes" as the theme for that other famous rabbit movie, WATERSHIP DOWN.
Movie Review: Delightful, picturesque, and well acted
Summary: 5 Stars
I sought out this film, Miss Potter, specifically after buying and loving Beatrix Potter: A Journal, by Beatrix Potter. I bought THAT because I was intrigued by the entrancing and lavish manner in which it was produced. I love owning it!
To be honest, I am not really certain how much of either work (this movie or that book) is totally accurate factually, however I enjoyed both equally! In fact, I am thinking of pairing them up as holiday gifts for members my family!
The reason for this is that both capture the magic which I recall so very clearly, when I read the stories written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter as a little girl. I had all the books, and I also had several porcelain statues (I had Mrs. Tiggywinkle and also Jeremy Fisher. If someone was making a collection for me, that is as far as they got!). Everything connected to Beatrix Potter and her stories was enchanting to me. If you grew up with a love of Beatrix Potter, be sure to see this film. It is beautful and moving as well. You can enjoy the tale of Beatrix herself, a strong and fascinating woman, way ahead of her time, while revelling in the loveliness of the scenery (the North Country of Scotland). You can respond to the charm of her drawings (which sometimes animatedly wink at you--so alive they were to her! They were her "friends"--she was a lonely child and young woman). You can fall for her love story, which is sad indeed concerning her love life in her thirties, after the joy of true love was wrested away from her when she lost the great love of her life, underplayed in a sweet and most marvelous manner by Ewan Mcgregor, as her publisher, Norman, who was the first person who truly believed in the potential of her books.
Ultimately Beatrix is triumphant in every way, healing in her farmhouse in the country and drawing again. Finally in love a second time, she continues to write and begins protecting her beloved countryside from developers. This will become one of her life's great purposes.
Beatrix Potter, played to perfection by Rene Zellweger, was a shy yet determined woman. Rene Zellweger consistently amazes me by the perfection of her performances. I don't like her looks, frankly (hey, sorry!), and yet because she is such a very good actress, I find that I appreciate her value and outstanding contributions in every movie she is in. She is so good as Beatrix Potter, it's uncanny. I also think that Emily Watson as Norman's sister Millie really adds a lot to the plot. She makes the most of her part. She is downright excellent as a vunerable yet "tough on the outside" spinster, capable of great love, who has been dealt some bad cards in life, love-wise (Whist, anyone?). Several scenes between her and Beatrix are really memorable.
I suggest you rent or buy this film and do as I did: if you like this film, maybe get the book I mentioned as well. You will be in for a great time if you love Beatrix Potter! And really, who doesn't love Beatrix ? !
Movie Review: This Is England
Summary: 5 Stars
MISS POTTER (2006, a/k/a MS. POTTER ) is director Chris Noonan's masterpiece! (It would have to be, since his biggest credit thus far is as writer/director of the classic BABE--but not the sequel!)
Here, Beatrix Potter-Heelis (Renée Zellweger in what is hailed as the performance of a lifetime) is followed from her young adulthood to her marriage to country solicitor William Heelis (the great Lloyd Owen). Starting with her success as a children's author (THE children's author?) and ending with her purchase of Lake District land, the film breathes. I mean, it truly breathes with locations, costume (no designs, they used off-the-rack genuine stuff), perfect acting and a hint of the jolly humor Beatrix showed in abundance.
Though I'm no expert on Beatrix, this dvd has two delightful, 20-minute-long documentaries explaining the life of Beatrix and the making of this film. Well worth it. In the biography, I learned that Beatrix married Heelis later in life, and there is no mention of her engagement to her publisher Norman Warne (perfectly cast Ewan MacGregor, allegedly Zellweger's idea). I do know that the Warnes are still around and in business.
One thing I adored about this film was the attention paid to the actual composition/publication of the books, though it does not touch the number of books Beatrix published. It also shies away from her marketing genius: she virtually invented "marketing rights" and had royalties pouring in from endless sources, not just her books. She could have sold film rights...who knows.
The addition of Bill Paterson as Beatrix's father Rupert and Barbara Flynn as her mother Helen is the most perfect casting I think I've ever seen in any film. Without over-burdening the film, these two immortals add the perfect weight to the portrayal of Beatrix's life. Indeed, this film could not have been done without them!
My other favorites David Bamber (VALKYRIE) as Frewing Warne, Anton Lesser as Harold Warne and Phyllida Law (Emma Thompson's mother) as Mother Warne only add to the expert family quality of this great film. A surprise is in the character of Millie Warne (Emily Watson), Beatrix's best friend. Finally, kudos to the rarely seen Matyelok Gibbs as Ms. Wiggin, Beatrix's governess/chaperone.
I can't say enough about this priceless gem, one of the unforgettable cinema classics of the 2000s. Get it and let your kids immerse themselves in it--especially if they like Beatrix's books (or even if they like Harry Potter). There is no excuse to miss this beautiful, funny, moving giant of a film.
Beatrix deserves it.