Tamara Drewe
Review
by Anthony Morris
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Tamara Drewe
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Based on a cartoon series that ran in UK newspaper The Guardian a
few years ago (which has been collected in a book that's well worth
checking out), Tamara Drewe (the comic) was itself based on Thomas Hardy's novel Far From the Madding Crowd.
You
don't have to have read either to enjoy Stephen Frear's film version,
but it does go some way towards explaining the somewhat old-fashioned
(for a film) focus on character-based plot twists and turns here. Set in a writers colony on a farm near a small town in the english countryside, things start off fairly settled :
Best-selling
author Nicolas Hardiment (Roger Allam) and his wife Beth (Tasmin Grieg)
run the colony, he sneaks off and has affairs, she suffers (mostly) in
silence while working with handyman Andy (Luke Evans), US writer Greg
(Bill Camp) tries to get his book on Thomas Hardy written and a pair of
local teens (Jessica Barden & Charlotte Christie) try to stave off
boredom. Enter Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton), former local
lass who's had a nose job and in now sweeping all the boys off their
feet. She's returned to do up and sell her family home, but
her return sends ripples through the placid community - ripples not
everyone will survive... Tamara Drewe is
a relatively gentle comedy of manners, with the occasional biting line
mixed in, and while it's entertaining enough it's reliance on plot
makes it a bit difficult to see why this is a movie and not a
three-part BBC miniseries. It ends up occupying an odd
middle ground where the plot keeps things interesting but there's never
enough time to really get to care for the large cast. Fortunately
the acting is universally impressive (though Arterton doesn't stand out
as much as you'd expect), making this a pleasant enough way to pass the
time...
But not much more than that. 2 out
of 5
Tamara Drewe
Australian release: 3rd February,
2011
Official
Site: Tamara Drewe
Cast: Gemma Arterton, Dominic Cooper, Luke Evans, Tamsin Green
Director: Stephen Frears
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