The veteran actors in This film score better than the younger actors because they give you what you expect from them, and anytime on screen that they are present is always welcome. But the film itself is painfully slow, a metaphor for the days that these characters face in their colorful country setting but their colorless lives. When you got well-respected veterans like Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon and Fiona Shaw, you're definitely going to have some colorful moments simply by the way they speak and the colorful lines they get to say. But the plotline concerning outside forces of the Irish rebellion threatening to stand in the way of a peaceful weekend the uppercrust, and the romantic issues of the young lady and the soldier for family doesn't consider good enough for her is tedious and painfully slow moving.
David Tennant and Keeley Hawes are painfully out of their depth when in scenes with Smith and Gambon as the estate owners, and Shaw as an eccentric visitor dealing with her own problems, sadly underwritten. Shaw and Smith, two of the finest scene stealers of the British stage and screen (although Shaw is of Irish background), are marvelously commanding anytime they are on screen, but Gambon gets a messy hairstyle that makes him look more like a servant than a land owner. The music is perfect for the period, and the scenery is eye-catching, but as far as British society dramas go, this one disappoints. Jane Birkin in a smaller role is wasted. Even the political issues of the Irish Rebellion come off still here, mainly just a talked about threat than any real one. By the time the heat shows up, the audience is pretty frozen against this.
David Tennant and Keeley Hawes are painfully out of their depth when in scenes with Smith and Gambon as the estate owners, and Shaw as an eccentric visitor dealing with her own problems, sadly underwritten. Shaw and Smith, two of the finest scene stealers of the British stage and screen (although Shaw is of Irish background), are marvelously commanding anytime they are on screen, but Gambon gets a messy hairstyle that makes him look more like a servant than a land owner. The music is perfect for the period, and the scenery is eye-catching, but as far as British society dramas go, this one disappoints. Jane Birkin in a smaller role is wasted. Even the political issues of the Irish Rebellion come off still here, mainly just a talked about threat than any real one. By the time the heat shows up, the audience is pretty frozen against this.