Taken from a graphic novel that is loosely based on "Far from the Madding Crowd", "Tamara Drewe" is something of an unexpected treat from the great Stephen Frears. Gemma Arterton is Tamara, a journalist and former ugly duckling, who returns to the village of her youth, now something of a beauty, (she's had a nose job), causing considerable consternation among the locals, mostly the men, principal of whom is Roger Allam's crime writer who is two-timing his wife Tasmin Greig with any woman who moves. Then there's Tamara's old boyfriend Luke Evans, (think Gabriel Oak), and the rock drummer, (an excellent Dominic Cooper), she falls for (he's the Sergeant Troy figure). To make sure we get the Hardy analogy there's an American writer staying with Allam and in love with Greig and currently writing a book on the novelist. The plot, which also involves a couple of teenage girls with a crush on the Cooper character, gets more and more convoluted as the film progresses with the humour turning increasingly sour, but it's funny and clever and its failure was totally undeserved. Not the best of Frears but worth seeing.
Review of Tamara Drewe
