Testament of Youth

[KM&M]

Ipswich was packed, not a spare seat, as usual late comers moaned about there not being seats together! One couple saw how busy it was and just left, didn't come back. First few minutes of the film showed with sound only.

Lovely film but too long, too sentimental and mawkish, Cut out some of the violins and scenery scenes and it would have been much better. Admirably did not shy away from the horror of war injuries but most of the time Nurses far too clean- I think at most one scene had some blood on the apron and a few wisps of hair astray. But then Hollywood as a whole, unless gory "manly" stuff, does tend to santise sickness and disability with a glossy veneer!

I think the actress did well in the role, she couldn't stop slipping into that wonderful rhythm the Swedes speak in at times, even though the English was pretty good. To be fair fellow Swede Rebecca Ferguson was the same in The White Queen.

[Yinster]

Back from Glasgow where it was pretty busy.

Thought this was good at times but average overall. It was nice to see WW1 from another person'e eye. Though this was too long for my attention span. Main actress was very good and so was rest of the cast. 5/10

[McG]

Saw this in a busy Glasgow tonight although we did have a group of 4 who wandered in late and then negotiated about who would sit where. Some folk just don't seem to have grasped that films start at the time stated and not after 25 minutes of adverts.
I really enjoyed this film but agree it was a little too long. It was gentle, meandering it's way through the pre WW1 and then the war. Vera was a beautiful English rose . . .even though she was Swedish. I am certainly intrigued to find out more about Vera, particularly after reading some reviews on here. I did wonder about whether she ever returned to Oxford and actually get a degree. I did pick up the facts of her brother's sexuality in the film and thought it was well handled. It was certainly not something which would have been talked about even between siblings.
This film portrays a period of time as experienced by one woman though mirroring life in general.
Certainly not just a war film or even a love story, it was a good film to watch at the start of a year.
Marks 8.5/10

[nosila50]

Saw this in a packed Cineworld Edinburgh tonight. Knew it would be too soft for my hubby so took a friend. We really enjoyed the film and it was another sobering adaptation of the awful losses that must have been endured by so many. Thought Vera was very well portrayed and altogether no complaints. Definitely more for the ladies. 8/10

[prettyxcool]

She was in A Royal Affair and Anna Karenina. She will also be in Son of a Gun.

I remember her from those too.

Seems she is dating Michael Fassbender!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... miere.html

[cliveas]

I did wonder about whether she ever returned to Oxford and actually get a degree.

She's shown going back in the film and I think being told that it was Chaucer that term. In fact when she went back in 1919 affected by the war she actually changed from English to Modern History, graduating in 1921. As women were only allowed to receive degrees from 1920 she must have been one of the first to do so.

[baty]

I found the film interesting but long. OH had a nap and felt that he hadn't missed anything.
6/10

[sandypiper]

I too thought it was overlong, I looked at my watch twice. Beautiful scenery, I can't see Colin Morgan without thinking "Oh its Merlin". Miranda Richardson was very good as Miss Lorimer.

[yogi]

I found the film interesting but long. OH had a nap and felt that he hadn't missed anything.
6/10

Interesting, but long is a good summary.

Some fine performances (I can't believe the lead actress is Swedish) and some powerful moments - Dominic West at the train station and Vera and the German soldier, but just an ok film overall for me. 6/10

[raj101]

outstanding New Years type film. Surely the first of a slew of hard bitten First World War films to hit the cinema over the next 4 years as we go through the various 100 years since this that and the other of it.

Not that I thought that to begin with* - the first 20 minutes are EM Forsters piano tinged wetdream of a movie full of posh oiks dreaming of Oxford being all they want in life (wtf??), I was at that point surprised Emma Thompson hadnt turned up for a cameo in it.

But the film maker was simply setting us up to contrast this upper class elysian English lifestyle directly with the freakish horrors that followed. Clever. Thus Vera Brittain begins a Stygian descent into nursing hell during the World War, through some unimaginable situations that would have Shailene Woodley crying into a bedpan on the first day of training. How this affects her character and the irrevocable scarring that ensues become a focal point of the movie. SHe in many ways completely changes in character. At the end when she returns to Oxford shes obviously fed up with Uni life....thought she was going to threaten her smiley roommate for a minute lol ("Leave me alone, I'm Dauntless Rrrrrr!!!")

As women were only allowed to receive degrees from 1920 she must have been one of the first to do so.

that was bothering me at first, now you've helped me realise they did admitedt women but withheld degree reception.


*tbh my first thought was Merrrrllliiin