Le Cercle littéraire de Guernesey

One of my dreams is to visit Guersnay and the other islands that the Brits call the Channel Islands. I am fascinated by the history, landscapes and stories of those who visited them. Now another reason has been added - watching the 2018 film 'The Guernsay Literary and Potato Pie Society' by Mike Newall. The director of the ultimate British film in the genre of 'good feeling' (I mean, of course, 'Four Weddings and a Funeral') manages to turn a war drama combined with a story about the power of the written word and reading into another film that belongs to this genre in which he is an expert. The result is one of those films that separates the opinions of critics from those of the majority of the public. This time my opinions go hand in hand with those of the general public. 'Guernsay' (allow me to abbreviate the name) is a movie that I liked, I was interested in, I was excited about, I felt good after viewing it. That was the goal, wasn't it?

We are dealing with two stories. The outer one has as its heroine Juliet Ashton, a London journalist and writer, who entertains with a group of Guernsey residents during World War II a correspondence related to their passion for reading. The emotional and intriguing story of the group of simple people who find moral support in their love of books in the only English territory under German occupation causes her to travel after the war to the British island, located much closer to the continent than England, to meet them personally. She will find not only a group of people who survived the hard times of the war in various ways, but also a mystery about the disappearance of one of the members of the club. Gradually a story of heroism and betrayal, impossible love and social prejudice is revealed to her. In addition, her existence will be disturbed, including her love life.

Critics of the film blame it for clichés in the plot (almost everything that happens is predictable) and for creating the image of an idealized nice and sweet England that did not exist and does not exist in reality. Even if I accept these flaws, they seem minor to me compared to the charm of each scene, the emotional intensity of the story, the depth and psychological diversity of the characters. Of course, much of the deep impression that this film made to me is due to the impression the performances of the actors made on me. I should list them all, but I'll just name Lily James, in the lead role, a character one can't help but fall in love with, and Tom Courtney, the rebellious young man from the 'kitchen sink' movies, the British equivalent and contemporary of the French New Wave, now at the age of great roles that conclude an impressive career. 'Guernsay' is a film that I recommend to all those who believe in the power of books, who love historical films and romantic stories, and who love England. In fact, is anybody else left out? Maybe just a few movie critics.

Watched this on Netflix, primarily for the great cast. A beautiful movie about love and courage. A great script and the acting is superb. This is a hidden gem. A must watch.

I was intrigued by the title so thought give it a go. disappointingly there were no special effects, explosions or alien monsters just a simple story relayed to us by actors of all things,because of all this it will not qualify for any awards other than my own lowly opinion. I laughed I cried, became angry and gave it the accolade of the best film I have seen for a long time, whatever tosh other people may say about this tale I enjoyed it, so lets have some more films with a story to tell without the bangs and bloodbaths

The story begins in London in 1946. Now that the war is over, Juliet Ashton is a best-selling author and she should be happy now that she's become engaged to a rich and handsome American soldier. But she seems a bit lost despite her success. One thing that piques her interest is a letter she's received from Guernsey (one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France). It's from a man who is looking for a book and who is part of the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society...a book club consisting of about a half dozen members. Instead of just sending the man the book, she decides to go to Guernsey and meet this book club. However, although they loved hosting her, there is some sort of secret about this group...a secret that Juliet is determined to find out for herself.

The biggest praise in this film probably goes to the director, as the story is simple but Mike Newell manages to make the most of it. Some lovely performances, great pacing and a lovely script all work together to tell a story that really hook you...and if you like romances, you're sure to enjoy this movie.

By the way, one of the best parts about story is its setting. Few Americans know anything about Guernsey and I enjoyed learning about the German occupation of the island during the war. Very interesting.

I loved this film!! Having read the book and it being one of my all time favourite books I was a little wary of the film, as they often don't do the book justice. However, this is an exception! I thought it was beautifully made and the casting was brilliant with great chemistry between them. The only thing that did let it down was one of, what I felt, was a larger plot from the book being left out. It would have made it complete to have the ending and how the ending happened stayed more true to book, but it was still a beautiful ending and would highly recommend to anyone!