A Good Romance

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2014)

The film starts out with the sounds of a typewriter and a doll house.
A man is falsely accused of raping a little girl. Evidence relies on the testimony of a confused girl who was probably influenced by the class of the actual rapist and confusion over the relationship between the accused and the witness's sister. To avoid prison, the accused, Robbie (James McAvoy) joins the British Expeditionary Force. He eventually dies in Northern France. The sister of the accused, Cecilia (Keira Kinghtley) also has a difficult time. She's angry at how her family handles the case and goes off on her own to London. Here she's killed in the Blitz. The story is told through the perspective of the little girl, as she has grown old and writes a novel as form of repentance. She was never able to set her false testimony straight.
I really got into this movie. I loved the pictures of the English countryside and the Cliffs of Dover. It was easy to get a dreamy state with the idyllic pond and huge wildflowers. THis put my hard down so that the scenes of battle carnage were all the stronger and more powerful. The beautiful tuxedos of the wealthy class at the beginning, made the dirty faces and the cockney accent of one of the soldiers all the more cruel and hard.
I rarely enjoy romances, as they're often too sentimental, as though the only people that feel affection are half-wits that choose to beget a bunch of spawn and live in the suburbs. Many of us are screwed over by lies and apathy. This film shows that, but it also shows a ferris wheel and kisses such that the gritty image was arguably true.
It's another great performance of the beautiful Keira Knightley and level-headed James McAvoy.