Miss Potter

"Miss Potter," based on the life of Beatrix Potter, the best selling author of children's books of all time, is an enchanting film.

Directed by Chris Noonan ("Babe") and written by Richard Maltby, Jr., whose theatrical background is no doubt the reason the 94-minute film has such a jaunty pace, "Miss Potter" is not a standard biopic in that it has the ability to appeal to pretty much everyone, with the exception of the very young, which I'll get to in a moment.

Opening images of a pair of hands carefully choosing the pencils and brushes that are the tools of the writer/illustrator's craft, paired with a voice-over that tells us that "there is something delicious about writing the first words of a story," reveal Potter's passion for her craft. Her affection for what she calls her "friends" -- the bunnies, frogs and ducks who are the subjects of her tales -- is equally strong. So strong, in fact, that we wonder, as do the two gentlemen who agree to produce her work, if Miss Potter (Rene Zellweger) isn't just a little daft.

This notion is quickly laid to rest, however, when we see the author, escorted by fledgling publisher Norman Warne (a sedately sweet Ewan McGregor), confidently direct the printing of her works, an endeavor not generally expected of single women in 1902 London, and not deemed acceptable by its society.

Among those who find this effort distasteful are Potter's parents (Barbara Flynn and Bill Patterson), a pair of "social climbers" who seek to marry their only daughter to a man of means. That she refuses these overtures is the crux of their often contentious relationship.

In lieu of marriage, Potter immerses herself in her work. As her success blossoms, so does her relationship with her champion, Mr. Warne, who introduces the author to his sister, Millie (Emily Watson), another spinster. The two women develop a palpable bond, based primarily on their like-minded philosophies about life.

Precisely how Potter developed her ideology is never told, but flashbacks to her childhood reveal an independent girl (charmingly played by newcomer Lucy Boynton) with natural storytelling abilities and a love for drawing the small animals she encounters while summering in England's bucolic Lake Country with her family. It is from these experiences that Potter fashioned her famous "Tales of..." series.

In an effort to bring Potter's experiences with the books to life on the screen, Noonan incorporates a series of technically adept animation sequences. These are completely effective in delivering the sweetness of Potter's tales, and they will appeal to even the youngest viewers. But the film offers too few of them to be satisfying. As a result they become a tease, a sort of trailer to get us to buy the books. While there are many reasons to buy and read Potter's books, using a film to get us to do so feels like too much manipulation.

In all other ways this is sound and pleasurable film-making. Performances are what one would expect from so seasoned a cast, with Zellweger bringing her natural cherubic quality to the role of the author. Production design (by Martin Childs), which incorporates a color palette that matches Potter's work, and cinematography by Andrew Dunn ("History Boys," "Mrs. Henderson") are elegant but not ostentatious, and are reminiscent of the look of "Finding Neverland," another film set in turn-of-the-century England.

In the hundred or so years since Beatrix Potter created her venerated children's series, a lot has changed in the world. One thing that hasn't, however, is that we still love a good story, particularly one that warms our hearts and makes us feel good about the world. "Miss Potter" does precisely that.

Beatrix Potter (Renée Zellweger) was a literary phenomenon of the early 20th Century.

At a time when most young women of her class aimed only to make a good marriage, Beatrix became an iconic figure, swimming quietly, but with great fortitude against the tide.

She created a series of books and characters that are as beloved today as they were a hundred years ago; since their publication they have never been out of print. She was also a distinguished painter and--had she been a man--her botanical drawings would have been snapped up by the Royal Horticultural Society at Kew Gardens.

In addition, by the time she died in 1943, Beatrix Potter had purchased vast swathes of the Lake District that she left to the then fledgling British Conservation Trust. That so much of this glorious countryside that inspired her, remains as it was in Beatrix Potter's day for others to enjoy, is her bequest to the nation.

This is her story.... Miss Potter 7/10

In 1902, in London, the spinster Beatrix Potter (Renée Zellweger) is a thirty-six year-old woman who lives with her bourgeois parents. Her snobbish mother Helen Potter (Barbara Flynn) had introduced several bachelors to Beatriz until she was twenty years old but she turned them all down.

Beatrix Potter has been drawing animals and making up stories about them since she was a child but her parents has never recognized her as an artist. One day, Miss Potter offers her stories to a print house and the rookie publisher Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor) is delighted with her tales and publishes her first children's book.

The successful selling leads Norman to publish two other books and Miss Potter becomes the best friend of his single sister Millie Warne (Emily Watson). Sooner they fall in love with each other but Helen does not accept that her daughter marries a "trader". However, Beatrix's father Rupert Potter (Bill Paterson) proposes that his daughter spends the summer with his wife and him in their country house in Lake District and if she is still interested in Norman after the summertime, he would bless their marriage. When Miss Potter stops receiving letters from Norman, she is disappointed. Until the day she receives a letter from Millie explaining what had happened to Norman.

"Miss Potter" is a beautiful film about the life of the British writer of children's books Helen Beatrix Potter. This writer is not popular in Brazil and "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" was only published in Portuguese in 2009.

I saw "Miss Potter" without knowing that it was biographical and I found very sad when she loses Norman. However, Renée Zellweger once again has a magnificent performance in the role of a woman ahead of her time. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Miss Potter"

One would like to think that the most prolific children's author of all time was a fun-loving, happy, cheerful person, and yet this movie certainly shatters that image. Beatrix Potter (creator of Peter Rabbit among others) is depicted here as a shy, lonely, isolated and socially awkward woman who sometimes seems to live in an imagined world of her own and whose only friends are the animals she creates for her stories (her friendship with the animals being depicted by them becoming - to Beatrix only - animated creatures rather than still drawings.) All her relationships - save two - are problematic. Her original publishers don't take her work seriously, her father is loving but patronizing, her mother never appreciates her talent (at one point her father says to her mother "our daughter is famous, my dear, and you seem to be the only one who doesn't realize that!") The two exceptions are important though. Norman - who eventually is given responsibility for publishing her books (Potter is "fobbed off" onto him by his older brothers who actually run the firm) - believes in her and eventually falls madly in love with her and his sister Millie becomes her best friend. Still, though, the relationships turn tragic when Beatrix and Norman are engaged but can't tell anyone because her parents insist on keeping it a secret (they felt Beatrix was marrying beneath herself) and Norman then dies before the marriage takes place.

Renee Zellweger (my favourite actress who can take any role of any kind it seems and make it work brilliantly) was - well - brilliant as Beatrix Potter. The rest of the cast were quite solid - especially Barbara Flynn as Beatrix' mother, and Ewan McGregor as Norman. The strict moral standards of the early 20th century were portrayed well (it's shocking today to realize that a 32 year old unmarried woman would still have had to be chaperoned everywhere she went in that era) and the movie even manages some light humour now and then. Ultimately - one might say finally, because there's a point in the movie at which you desperately want Beatrix to break out of the stifling environment of her parents' home - the movie becomes uplifting, as Beatrix uses her newfound wealth to buy a farm where she can be on her own, becomes a bit of a social champion by buying surrounding properties to protect them from development and - finally - manages to fall in love and get married, although that's only told in the postscript.

This is, indeed, a movie both sad and touching. 7/10

If like me you are an old curmudgeon, who often makes Scrooge seem like Mother Theresa, then I strongly suggest you go watch this beautiful enchanting film on the life of Beatrix Potter.

It is extremely rare in these days of overblown special effects and "Written by Number Scripts" to come across a film that has intelligence, innocence, excellent acting, and beautiful music and cinematography.

I have seen other reviews that said Renee Zellwegger was wrong for the role of Potter, but I felt she had clearly understood the nature of the world in which Potter lived and the inner nature of a woman who had enormous talent, yet was determined to fight against the confinement's and mores of Victorian Society. There really was not one performance by any of the actors in the film that was out of place.

In these days when we educate our children with cynical reality shows, in which instant and short lived fame is more important that working hard to achieve your dreams, "Miss Potter" took me back to my childhood of innocence and imagination where simple but beautiful stories created so much warmth and good feeling.

This is a film for all age's, and all people. Absolutely beautiful from start to finish