A gentle film. Loved starchy elder Alice and mouthy younger one. Ian Holms is, of course, perfect at expressing a range of delicate emotions through relatively few lines.
The storyline is unnecessarily complicated by a "modern-day" (1932) love interest. Also, the issues from Alice's past are never actually resolved. They are for her personally, but the viewers are left in the dark. Was there pedophilia going on here, in thought if not in deed? It's extremely uncomfortable to know how to interpret Holms' "adoring" glances when we're not given more of an answer.
It would be interesting to see this film re-made today as a Masterpiece Theatre presentation. I know little about the historical people upon whose lives this tale was based, so I viewed this solely as a film standing on its own. MP would bring all the lushness, subtlety, wonder, and poignancy of the film but tie up the ends a bit more and make the overall story more compelling.
The storyline is unnecessarily complicated by a "modern-day" (1932) love interest. Also, the issues from Alice's past are never actually resolved. They are for her personally, but the viewers are left in the dark. Was there pedophilia going on here, in thought if not in deed? It's extremely uncomfortable to know how to interpret Holms' "adoring" glances when we're not given more of an answer.
It would be interesting to see this film re-made today as a Masterpiece Theatre presentation. I know little about the historical people upon whose lives this tale was based, so I viewed this solely as a film standing on its own. MP would bring all the lushness, subtlety, wonder, and poignancy of the film but tie up the ends a bit more and make the overall story more compelling.