Miss Potter
I am not a big fan of Renee Zellweger but she is absolutely wonderful (and perfect) in Miss Potter. She plays the title role of Beatrix Potter who wrote many children's books based on animals including my favorite, The Tales of Peter Rabbit.
Chris Noonan directs the film with such flair that it is easy to see that he was born to make this film. This is Noonan's first directing job since he made the beautiful film Babe many years ago. He took his time and waited for the right project to come along. And this was it.
Beatrix was a very talented girl and woman. We see flashbacks of the young Beatrix (Lucy Boynton) drawing and making up stories about animals. No one but her neighbor in the country, William Heelis, has any interest in what she is doing.
Flash forward to the present and Beatrix is an independent young woman with a mind of her own. Her overbearing and difficult mother (Barbara Flynn) is disappointed that the 32 year old Beatrix has not married and cannot see that her daughter has real talent. But her mild mannered father (Bill Patterson) knows that she is special.
Beatrix lands a publishing deal with the Warne Brothers. They have their younger brother Norman (Ewan McGregor), who is just entering the business, handle Beatrix's writings. Norman and Beatrix hit it off at once. He becomes her champion and this leads to much success.
Beatrix also strikes up a great friendship with Norman's equally independent sister Milly (Emily Watson) who is just as independent minded as she is. And that my friends is all I am going to tell you about this film. I will add that the adult William Heelis (Lloyd Duncan) reappears later on in the story. But in order to find out what happens you will have to see this film.
Miss Potter exceeded my expectations. It is funny and sad and romantic and gorgeous to look at. For my money this is Zellweger's best performance. McGregor is very good as Norman and Watson is wonderful as Milly (I just wish we had seen a little bit more of her). And Flynn and Patterson, both of who I have seen on many BBC television productions, were marvelous as Beatrix's parents. The script was well written by Richard Maltby, Jr. And the exquisite cinematography was done by Chris Seager and Andrew Dunn. The film tackles two important issues - the difficulty of being a single woman at that time and class differences. And although the single woman issue has been more or less resolved in western society (but certainly not in all cultures) the class issue still exists today. In fact, it is more important than ever.
I think that women and young girls would be the natural audience for Miss Potter. But there is a lot that male audience members will like as well (including the fantastic illustrations from the books). So go see this film and sit back, relax and enjoy spending time with the greatest creator of children's books who ever lived. You will be happy that you did.
Chris Noonan directs the film with such flair that it is easy to see that he was born to make this film. This is Noonan's first directing job since he made the beautiful film Babe many years ago. He took his time and waited for the right project to come along. And this was it.
Beatrix was a very talented girl and woman. We see flashbacks of the young Beatrix (Lucy Boynton) drawing and making up stories about animals. No one but her neighbor in the country, William Heelis, has any interest in what she is doing.
Flash forward to the present and Beatrix is an independent young woman with a mind of her own. Her overbearing and difficult mother (Barbara Flynn) is disappointed that the 32 year old Beatrix has not married and cannot see that her daughter has real talent. But her mild mannered father (Bill Patterson) knows that she is special.
Beatrix lands a publishing deal with the Warne Brothers. They have their younger brother Norman (Ewan McGregor), who is just entering the business, handle Beatrix's writings. Norman and Beatrix hit it off at once. He becomes her champion and this leads to much success.
Beatrix also strikes up a great friendship with Norman's equally independent sister Milly (Emily Watson) who is just as independent minded as she is. And that my friends is all I am going to tell you about this film. I will add that the adult William Heelis (Lloyd Duncan) reappears later on in the story. But in order to find out what happens you will have to see this film.
Miss Potter exceeded my expectations. It is funny and sad and romantic and gorgeous to look at. For my money this is Zellweger's best performance. McGregor is very good as Norman and Watson is wonderful as Milly (I just wish we had seen a little bit more of her). And Flynn and Patterson, both of who I have seen on many BBC television productions, were marvelous as Beatrix's parents. The script was well written by Richard Maltby, Jr. And the exquisite cinematography was done by Chris Seager and Andrew Dunn. The film tackles two important issues - the difficulty of being a single woman at that time and class differences. And although the single woman issue has been more or less resolved in western society (but certainly not in all cultures) the class issue still exists today. In fact, it is more important than ever.
I think that women and young girls would be the natural audience for Miss Potter. But there is a lot that male audience members will like as well (including the fantastic illustrations from the books). So go see this film and sit back, relax and enjoy spending time with the greatest creator of children's books who ever lived. You will be happy that you did.
posted by Film Fanatic | 1:38 PM
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