THE BOOKSHOP
Director: Isabel Coixet
Cast: Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, Honor Kneafsey, James Lance, Reg Wilson, Hunter Tremayne, Michael Fitzgerald, Mary O’Driscoll, Harvey Bennett, Frances Barber, Nigel O’Neill
Rating: (PG)
★★ (out of five)
Plucky war widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) washes up in the East Anglian fishing town of Hardborough and decides to open a bookshop. She buys the oldest house in the village, which is the perfect picturesque backdrop for an ever-so-tasteful bookshop, and plans to eke out a respectable living.
The problem is that the area’s Lady Muck, Violet Gamart (Patricia Clarkson), for some unfathomable reason is against the enterprise.
Apparently Violet would rather the place become a cultural centre.
Why she did not make her move in the five years the house stood empty before Florence stumbled upon it is never explained. And why a bookshop is not cultural enough for Violet is another unexplained mystery.
Anyway, Violet sets about making life difficult for Florence.
Did I mention that Florence is plucky? Well, she is, so Violet’s plotting fails to get her down.
She makes a friend of Edmund Brundish (Bill Nighy), a reclusive bookworm who lives in the big house, and for a while with Edmund in her corner it seems as if Violet will be forced to go pick on someone else.
The Bookshop is based on a novel by Penelope Fitzgerald and possibly does too good a job at portraying the repressed 1950s: everyone is so busy not saying what they really mean that the film has a strangled feel that is very tiresome.
- Christine Powley
