Female Focus
Page 39 One Day.
Impressively directed and sharply written, this is an engaging and ultimately powerfully moving romantic drama with a superb supporting cast and terrific performances from its two leads.
Directed by Lone Scherfig (An Education), One Day is based on the best-selling novel by David Nicholls (who wrote the screenplay) and stars Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway as Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley, a pair of graduating Edinburgh University students who have an abortive one-night
stand on St Swithin’s Day, 15th July, 1988. Over the course of the next twenty-something years, they become best friends and the film follows the progress of their will-they-won’t-they relationship on the same day each year.
Initially, Dexter is the more successful of the two, becoming an obnoxious TV presenter with a string of glamorous relationships while Emma slaves away in a Mexican restaurant and moves in with would-be comedian Ian (Rafe Spall), a man she doesn’t love. However, after Emma retrains as a teacher, her life takes on a new direction and their friendship is threatened by Dexter’s descent into drugs and alcoholism.
The performances are terrific: Sturgess, in particular, pulls off the extremely difficult feat of making Dexter deeply unpleasant and unsympathetic in the middle section and yet somehow winning back our sympathy by the end. Similarly, Hathaway may not be the dowdy “Yorkshire lass” of the book, but she makes the part her own and has strong chemistry with Sturgess to boot; she’s also convincingly vulnerable and insecure in the early stages, even if the make-up department can’t quite manage to make her look anything less than drop-dead gorgeous throughout.
The tricky structure of the book translates remarkably well to the screen, aided by Nicholls’ confident screenplay and some subtle production design work. One Day is a superbly directed and achingly poignant romantic drama that won’t disappoint, thanks to a confident script and terrific performances from Sturgess and Hathaway.
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson, Ken Stott. Director: Lone Scherfig Genre: Romance, Drama Certificate: 12 Rating: 4/5 Running Time: 107 min.
www.movingmovies.biz Tel: 650 944 934
movingmoviesdvds@gmail.com
Also Widely Read By Men
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60