Powerful story told badly

Rating: 6/10 (26 January 2010)

It's not I had great expectations on this movie: whenever a title is announced as "the film of the year" or "a movie that goes to your heart" and things of the kind, I tend to be on guard, ready for the worst. But the fact that Kate Winslet played the main role, and that many serious reviewers had said so many good things about this one, gave me some hope. Alas! How innocent of me! This movie is full of clichés, it's almost unbearable. The dialogues are unnatural. The story is powerful, but the way it's told is an offence. What a pity! The first 20 mins of the film are already a warning. Why do the two main characters develop a relationship? It seems totally theatrical, unbelievable. Where does the kid's fascination come from? The woman is a stranger to us, we never get to know her, her character is so erratic and inconsistent: one day she is sweet and sensitive, another day she is a rude bitch. Then the grown up man, who is he in reality? We get a glimpse on his family problems, but are they relevant to the story? In a more technical ground, the film is slow and redundant. OK, the kid is reading to the woman. We don't need to listen to him reading for hours to understand the concept and its impact on the characters. OK, they have good sex. We don't need to see them doing it all the time to get it!! And then OK, he is reading again. And again we are forced to listen to him for endless minutes! I was terribly disappointed by this movie. Pretentious, clumsy, affected. 6/10