How is it that critics are always suckers for white people
with British accents in twentieth century period costumes? (Please note that I say this as a completely
unapologetic fan of Downton Abbey.) Relying on the strength of acting
performances or the gravity of one’s source material does not make a film
engaging or meaningful, which seems to be a point missed not only by the BBC’s
films division but by the critical press that constantly applauds the
production of the same monotonous tripe.
The latest example is Testament of
Youth, which is a casualty of the same over-aggrandizement that accompanied
Far From the Madding Crowd last year.
Based on a memoir of the same name, the film follows the
life of Vera Brittain, a young woman who fights for her right to attend school,
only to have the events of the First World War completely upend her plans and
set her on a track toward nursing. The
character of Vera is actually pretty well realized in the form of actress
Alicia Vikander, who paints Vera as a strong female lead with hopes and
aspirations, but is not immune to the lures of companionship and romance and is
capable of not taking herself too seriously.
There are times when she slips into a melodramatic Oscar-baiting sob,
but those moments are forgivable in what is otherwise a very bland production.
And quite bland it is!
The crux of the narrative is in Vera’s constant confrontation with
tragedy, watching her grow and develop as she gradually loses everyone she
loves to the front lines. However, the
film seems to miss the point of these tragedies for the purpose of the
narrative and instead focuses on the tragedies themselves in order to pull out
a few more tears from Vera. The point of
most narrative pieces with a primary protagonist is to watch that character go
through an arc, to develop and change in a way that is relatable to the
audience, and while the loss of a loved one is certainly sympathetic, we don’t
get much of a catharsis in watching Vera grow.
The film’s final scenes pay lip service to Vera’s developed pacifism as
she pleads before an audience to let the fighting end, but there was no gradual
build-up to that belief or any evidence that those were the conclusions that
Vera was forming up until that point.
And really, that’s all there is to say about Testament of Youth. The lead performance is decent for the
material presented, but the supporting cast feels full of wasted potential as
they exist solely to provide sounding boards for Vera’s speeches and objects of
her mourning. Yet despite its grand
posturing over a heavy subject matter, it’s a very dull film that cashes in on
tragedy in order to pluck sympathy from its audience without any sense of
nuance or narrative importance. It’s
just a waste of time, hoping to fool you into thinking it’s a meaningful
experience. I guarantee you won’t
remember the film for very long after you see it, as it blurs into the malaise
of all the other British historical melodramas that purport the same faux
depth.
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