Following its Oscar nominations, hearing very favourable comments from friends
who had seen it the first time round and having been pleasantly surprised by
Shakespeare In Love ( which I'd also had my, trailer
induced, unfounded, concerns about ), I thought, okay, I'll give it the
benefit of the doubt, when it resurfaced in a retrospective of Oscar nominated
films at the local flea pit.I really, really wish I hadn't bothered.
In my book, this has to be the most boring film which I have seen in an awfully
long time, at the cinema or on television.
At least with TV you get the chance to change channels, go to bed early or do
something else. Stuck in the cinema, with people relying on me to give them
lifts back home, there was nothing left to do but stick it out, trying not to
fall asleep.
I tried to enjoy it, I really did, but the film had almost zero impact on me;
the fact that the most memorable thing I recall is some nice, high elevation
shots, looking down over a large hall and, at times, thinking, well the
costumes are quite well done, perhaps shows how unimpressed I was at the end of
the day.
Even the appearance of Eric Cantona and some amusing lines failed to stir me.
It was a well put together film, everything was done right, the costumes were
good, the plot reasonable, and even the dance scenes ( which seriously
prejudiced my original view of the film in the trailer ) weren't that bad,
but it just never exhibited any energy, it just dragged on slowly.
Kathy Burke showed a little promise but was more memorable for her blackened
teeth than her part in the performance and Attenborough just looked totally
out of place. Cantona was more of a pussy cat than a Vinney Jones.
To put it in a nutshell; I wasn't captivated. If I'd had a remote control; I
would have been watching Teletext over the top of it.
The only feeling I had of willing suspension of disbelief was that the
film had been nominated for so many Academy Awards.
I have to respect the views of my friends, who saw the film on its first
release, who maintain it is an excellent film; they really do seem to have
enjoyed it. For me though, there was no chemistry.
I found it dull and uninspiring, it dragged on for far too long, never really
made any significant point and had no element of panache. By the time it
finished, I was glad to see the back of it.
I've seen better, and more interesting, DIY and 'Life of the Shark' programmes
on The Discovery Channel; perhaps I'm just not cut out for historical period
pieces like this.
I never studied history at school because I found it boring and relatively
unimportant; perhaps that's why I didn't enjoy the film - I found this film
equally boring and unimportant.
Which is a real shame; I'd gone there with a more open mind than I normally
would have and left considerable disappointed.
The trailer preceding its re-release is absolutely brilliant and makes the
film look incredibly interesting and worthy of viewing.
Unfortunately, for me, the film didn't deliver what its trailer promised.
