The War Bride

Anna Friel stars in classy wartime drama The War Bride. She plays Lily, an orphan who suddenly finds herself married, with child and living with hostile in-laws in the wilds of Canada. Thematically similar to Friel's Land Girls, this is a much more accomplished affair. Her star turn is well complimented by Brenda Fricker and Molly Parker as her agitated in- laws.

In what could have been a very pedestrian story, timing is key. Director Lyndon Chubbuck handles this carefully, leaving it until wartime London has become familiar to whip us away to Canada and then leaving it until Lily is finally at home to rock the boat again. To guide us through this we are offered no easy timescale; no regular radio broadcasts counting down the end of the war, no montage of letters to mark the time Lily and Charlie (Aden Young) are apart. A quick blast of a public information film dissolves into Lily arriving in Canada and the rest of the film rests almost entirely on Friel's performance. Portraying a delicate balance of European femme fatal and ordinary London lass, she gets it right every time.

Additional to her fish out of water dilemma is Lily's growing attraction to local boy Joe (Loren Dean). Lily, who dresses in risqué clothing to provoke the old-fashioned community, is continually referred to as a 'tart' and because of Friel's balanced performance and the juxtaposition of modern and wartime values the film's ending is genuinely uncertain.

This is a war-story with no war. The only death takes place off camera, the only major disfigurement is the result of polio not violence. With no pretensions to heroics or history, The War Bride is a simple story, well told.

I have just watched this film and I think it is brilliant. It begins with Lily (Anna Friel) meeting Charlie (a Canadian soldier) at a dance. She is swept off her feet and they are soon married. Charlie promises that he will get her away from London and look after her. As Charlie goes back to Europe to fight, Lily gives birth to a girl and soon after receives a letter instructing her to go and live with her Mother and Sister in-law in Canada. Charlie has led her to believe that he lives on a big Canadian ranch. However this is a slight exaggeration! Without giving to much away she is not made to feel welcome by any of Charlie's family or friends, but wins over their friendship by just being kind and human. Just as she wins them over, Charlie returns from the war, a broken man. The film portrays the emotions of wartime and you feel for every character involved in the film. I cannot recommend it enough. Anna Friel was excellent!

If you love 1940's era films, this is a must.

This film suffers a bit from being a cheap TV movie - historically its a tad rough around the edges and the storyline is predictable and at times even a little dull. The crux of the story is about the strained relationship between a war bride who arrives at a broken down farm in Alberta, the home of her husband's family, in 1943. Her whirlwind courtship, marriage and pregnancy is not met with approval from the Canadian family and although they loosen up towards her, it takes two years to do so. During this time there are many scenes where you just want something more to happen other than whispered snide comments and hate-filled glares. I am not quite sure why this particular story was chosen as the characters don't really engage each other. Brenda Fricker was almost wasted in her role as the husband's mother but even though she was given few lines she still managed to steal most of the scenes! From real accounts I have read, there were jealous and snippy Canadians who felt some of the English war brides were predatory fortune hunters and there were equally as many English war brides who saw Canadians as prudish and uncultured hicks. However, there were far more stories of love and support, and appreciation and adaptability. I know this film needed drama and used a storyline that would provide this but the film would have benefited from some real events relayed from war bride memoirs. I suspect the story was written with little research from period accounts and that's too bad because there is a wealth of material out there that would have made for some great scenes.

Regardless, I still think the film needed to be made and I am glad somebody did it. It was overall enjoyable to watch.

I love this film. It's a powerful story about war. But not from the usual point of view. But rather from a woman's point of view. Far from the war zone. Anna Friel, Brenda Fricker and Molly Parker combine to form a trio of women struglling,each in their own way, to come to terms with the war. They are great in this film. Both induvidualy and as a greater trio. They have to fight for their own place in a world out of their control. Struggling, bonding and clawing for every inch they can, It's inspiring to see how they build a new life. A good life constructed out of desperation . I first saw this film when in won the HeartLand film festival. I saw it again on DVD and feel in love all over again.

Lily (Anna Friel) and Sophie (Julie Cox) are childhood friends who have grown up together in a London orphanage. It is now wartime London during the Blitz and the two women both have whirlwind romances with two Canadian soldiers. Lily falls in love with Joe, marries him and gets pregnant almost immediately before he is sent off to fight. Lily, along with many other women in England, becomes classified as a war bride and for safety reasons emigrates to join her husband's family in Canada. Arriving with her baby daughter in Alberta, she is met with a hostile reception by her new mother-in-law (Brenda Fricker) and sister-in-law (Molly Parker) and begins a fresh, wholly alien rural life on a remote farm. Lily is nevertheless a spirited, young woman (Anna Friel is excellent in the main role), refuses to be ground down by her new circumstances and successfully fights to become part of a very insular community. The War Bride is a fascinating, touching and powerfully authentic drama filled with good humour. The film also has excellent production values, clean and crisp visuals, and is carefully directed by Lyndon Chubbuck.