Film Reviews by GG

Such an important subject, told so badly. What a shame. The film is full of cliches - at the beginning of the film the romanticised, idealistic images of Ukrainian peasantry whose lives are forever sunny whilst they harvest grain reminded me of old Hovis adverts. Sadly too many events have been trivialised and very poorly acted. And why were there no Ukranian actors in the film? Why was it all in English? Why on earth did the actors playing the Russian characters have to use pretend Russian accents? This era of history deserves strong storytelling - this film failed dismally.

I found this to be a very powerful film that explores and examines sexual oppression, exploitation and gender equality in an era dominated by convention and patriarchy. I was moved as I watched the layers become unravelled and marvelled in some of the performances which to some degree were very stylistic. I was particularly struck by Janet McTeer who played the role of Mr. Page. Five stars from me - an interesting and thoughtful film.