Bright Hair

Ann Devenish is walking home from her private school one day when she cuts through the village and, finding the gates open, into a house. She walks towards voices to find two policemen standing over a brutally murdered woman. She flees the scene with only a piece of jewellery that she stole from the house but the police question her over what she saw. The small community reacts to the murder and is on edge – even more so when Ann goes missing, only to turn up a week later with no memory of where she has been. The blackouts continue to plague her while at the same time the small community around her grow suspicious and fearful.

Shown as part of 1997 week on BBC4 a few months back, this is a murder mystery set in a small leafy town and with schoolgirl Ann at the centre of the narrative. The opening scenes are arresting enough as the first murder victim is discovered but after this things start to crawl along in a weird sort of way that never really gets going until the final few scenes pull it all together. By this time though, it is too little too late because the two hour running time has been made to feel like an eternity thanks to an incredibly slow pace throughout. I have no problem with a slow pace (my favourite show is HBO's The Wire) but I need the material to be able to support it and I didn't think that was the case here. The conclusion is reasonably predictable after about 40 minutes but then it continues the slow pace of not really doing much while trying to spin out the mystery. Director Menaul must carry the can for not being able to hold the film at a level that works and not drawing depth or drama out of the script.

The cast mostly try hard and deserved better. Fox is obviously the most impressive but struggles to protect the obvious from the audience and her performance stutters her and there. Support is solid through and features turns from Purefoy, Carter, Bowe and others. The downside is that their performances tend to reinforce the slow pace by not being deep enough to engage in their characters and not urgent enough to convince within the mystery aspect. Overall a polished but plodding murder mystery that is too long and doesn't have the strength in material to sustain it.

What's with the gigantic creepy pupils on Emilia Fox sporadically throughout the film? I get it was a tactic to make her seem extra crazy but they were so bizarre and over the top. There were so many loose ends at the end and the story drags on way too long. I had to fast forward through a good portion of it. Very weird movie indeed.

Well... a stunning broad scope of roles played by Emilia Fox, and you could expect nothing less from a member of a family of brilliant actors. In essence, Emilia play's three different personas with exceptional brilliance.

The plot twist was moderately predictable, but that scarcely matters as there is an actual story to follow, unlike the rubbish being churned out these days, full of social engineering and political correctness.

A film I could easily watch multiple times, even knowing how the plot unravels, purely for the extremely well directed, acted and edited film that it is... and there is a proper conclusion at the end... not pseudo-arty, leaves you guessing/cheated, as is so often the case with more modern films!

No spoilers!

Ann Devenish (Emilia Fox) is a rebellious teenager in the village of Ashminster. Ann was left in shock after stumbling across a murder victim. It has led to her being psychologically damaged exhibiting strange behaviour.

This includes becoming obsessed with her new teacher David Miles (James Purefoy) who offered her support. Some years later Miles wife is killed in what looks like a copycat murder.

The police begin to suspect Ann who is experiencing blackouts and memory loss but it could just easily be David Miles. The police catch a killer but he denies the murder of Miles wife.

Lots of obfuscation and short on thrills. Fox convinces as the wayward schoolgirl. Purefoy is suitably bland that the role requires him to be as well as be alluring to hormonal teens.

It is a laborious slow thriller which could had been more effective with a shorter running time.

This is one of those made for TV murder mysteries certain sections of the British public are obsessed with. I call these Middle Class Murder shows, because they are always about middle class people in leafy suburbs, as if this makes them any more "classy", they are still based on fairly base material with the motivations of those involved are anything but sophisticated.

The cast alone hints at a made for TV offering and nothing in the production value suggests anything otherwise. This is the youngest I have seen Emelia Fox and she must be around 22 but playing a 17 year old school girl. She is in a relationship with one of her teachers, obviously illegal, so wondering if this explains the reason for a woman playing a teenager. She is also prone to fugue states where she seemingly acts out of character and experiences blackouts. These are played out on screen by having her eyes change colour when in one of these states. When the wife of the teacher she is in a relationship is murdered, questions are asked of her possible involvement.

Its an interesting enough story but feels far too long as a stand alone movie. Its more suited as a mini series if kept at the same length. While there is nothing that original in the concept of the mentally ill person being a suspect of murder, it does reach a fairly satisfying conclusion, although it does take a second to figure out what that is due to their being what seem like fantasy scenes throughout.

This is just hosted on Talking Pictures TV Cellar Club, so is currently hosted there for free. A bit of 1997 TV that seems fairly hard to track down. Worth a watch though you may want a break midway through.