Good but not great

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2018)

This movie is a cinematographer's dream, and Zac Nicholson does a great job of capturing the beauty of an English Channel island under Nazi occupation during World War II. Director Mike Newell sets a crisp yet patient pace, and not a shot is wasted in moving the story forward. The scenery was lovely, so I was very disappointed to learn that this is the North Devon coast filling in for the island of Guernsey. The plot is interesting enough, with two heroines - the writer Juliet (Lily James) who visits in 1946 to find out more about the strange literary society, and the second heroine being Elizabeth (Jessica Brown Findlay), seen in flashback during the war on Guernsey who rebels agaiinst the Nazi invaders and helps shelter slave labourers, at the risk of her own safety. Elizabeth also has an affair with a Nazi doctor, Christian (Nicolo Pasetti) who turns out to be a nice man. The movie is much more watchable and substantial than some British period films such as Their Finest. It does have some good points to make about people in the war not being all black and white in their allegiances, about how books can be saviours to people in times of trouble, and how a motley crew of unrelated people can form strong bonds. I love the scene when the Society eats an illicit roast pig. Such a simple indulgence but they really savour it, as a shared, rare luxury, and as a simple victory against oppression. I feel that the movie focused too much on Juliet's love life, and her life in London. We don't see much about the Nazi peril to Guernsey natives. The invasion is given about 10 seconds of screen time. Yet too much time is given to filming Juliet gazing longingly at her love interest, the farmer Dawsey, or furiously scribbling research about the island. I don't think Lily James is a great actor - too many furiously wrinkled brows, and she's not a great kisser, but she tries hard. Huisman, as the farmer Dawsey, also isn't that great, but his role is a bit soppy. The film does seem to approve of very good looking people. If you are a little different looking (i.e. the actually beautiful Katherine Parkinson as Isola) you're dismissed as plain and lovelorn.
Also the script's attitude to Chriistian, Elizabeth's Nazi lover, is confusing. In real life, you'd expect that the locals would regard Elizabeth's carousing with the enemy as a grave sin, that could endanger lives under occupation, a time when they rely on a united front against the enemy. But in the movie, the characters who disapprove of their relationship are painted as nasty. I guess the film is trying to say that love is love, and that not all Germans were bad.
Some reviewers didn't like the character of Juliet's American fiance, the wealthy officer Markham (Glen Powell), but I thought Powell did a great job, and even when he's rejected, he behaves understandably.
Juliet's gay literary agent character, Sidney (Matthew Goode) was almost identical to Rupert Everett's hyper-supportive gay best friend character in My Best Friend's Wedding. Still, he's entertaining.
I liked the ending, although I don't quite believe that Juliet would her give up her glamorous life in London to be a pig farmer's wife.
It is more picturesque, however.