Since I’m not familiar with comic series on which Tamara Drewe is based this first look at the trailer is my first exposure to the material. It’s not what I thought it would be and probably not what I hoped it would be — but I’m happily flexible and ready to adjust my expectations. I see movies of this type done right in the UK and think of everything Hollywood gets wrong when attempting the same tone.
Writing from Cannes for IFC, James Rocchi had this to say:
Posy Simmonds’ original comic strip (which ran in the books section of the Guardian in the U.K. as a soapy, satirical riff on Thomas Hardy’s “Far from the Madding Crowd”) is nicely-served by Moira Buffini’s screenplay, which ups the level of vigorous venality as characters willfully and wickedly misbehave.
Frears juggles the plot’s elements with a light but firm touch, as we cycle through the seasons and the characters hop from bed to bed. Arterton’s Drewe is a calculated, charismatic careerist, but Arterton also conveys the old wounds behind Tamara’s new life…
While some of the Dorset-accented slang is tricky to follow, the film mostly speaks in the universal languages of regret, remorse, foolishness and failure. “Tamara Drewe” concludes with some lives changed and some lives ended, the fates dispensing punishments and pleasures seemingly at random.
The film could be seen as part of Frears’ long track record with speedy social satire, from “Dangerous Liasons” to “High Fidelity;” it also fits in with his observations of English social mores like “My Beautiful Laundrette” and “The Queen.” “Tamara Drewe” isn’t Frears’ best film, but it’s decidedly his — a very British movie built on universal truths, and a human comedy that stays humane.
A couple of other multiplex misteps this year notwithstanding, Genna Arterton looks thoroughly adorable. Replace her face in this movie with any of the top 10 go-to girls for rom-com roles in the US and her real-feel appeal is hard to deny.
(Thanks to Living in Cinema for the trailer-spotting.)
