mauramartindale

I watched this film years ago and there are some scenes that are still very vivid in my mind. The actors did the best with what they were given, and the cinematography is decent, but this is a lackluster adaptation of an incredible book. Personalities are changed, or they simply lack them, events are changed or made up when the actual events were harrowing and heartwrenching, and so it made no sense to change it for dramatic effect; the scene at the Front with Vera and Edward was not necessary. The Front, and its horrors, weren't that well portrayed in my opinion, it was all too clean. I thought the lake and its symbolism was a real thing... turns out it's not and I'm kind of disappointed that they chose to use it as a symbol of Vera's bond with the boys instead of portraying it as it was in real life; the relationships and their personalities is watered down which is such a shame. I honestly don't think Testament of Youth is suited to be adapted as a movie, perhaps a tv series, but even then it would be hard to portray it because the book relies so heavily on Brittain's own words: her recollections, diaries, poems etc., as well as the poems and letters of Roland, Edward, Victor and Geoffrey. It is also a shame how little Winifred Holtby feature in this. I get ending it with the war ending and her going back to Oxford, but I also think it was a mistake because there is so much more to Vera's story than only the war years.

I love the concept for this, and I love the actors in it, but sadly it didn't work. Jacob Anderson shone in this, and his character was definitely the most interesting out of the lot, the rest were just there and felt really flat. The trailer made this seem like fun film, but I didn't find humour in it, and I think that is down to how it was edited and lack of music combined with a disjointed story that really weren't that interesting. It needed more depth for it to work, I don't mind the absurdity but it was just really flat and too disjointed. It's just boring, but with nice cinematography and good actors; it's a shame that the script wasn't up to par with that.