Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Lily James, Emily Beecham, Dominic West, Emily Mortimer, Dolly Wells, John Heffernan, Shazad Latif, Annabel Mullion, Andrew Scott, Beattie Edmondson, Freddie Fox, James Frecheville, Aki Omoshaybi, Assaad Bouab, Kitty Archer, Steve Garti, Will Keen, Abbiegail Mills, Zino Masoud, Heather Rome, Martha West.
More than a touch of style, the feeling of escapism is the route, for some, to a happier life. Such dichotomy is to be found in the way that literature presents itself as the epitome of the kitchen sink drama, the undercurrent of misery that catches the imagination in every soap opera, and that of the novels by the likes of Evelyn Waugh, P.G. Wodehouse, and Nancy Mitford, which when placed against the modern day are left in tatters due to what can be perceived as a ritual of them and us, when in actual fact both are quite compelled by the same feelings of desolation, melancholic inertia and gloomy outlook.
It is a matter of perspective, and one that the adaption of Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit Of Love by the engaging writing of Emily Mortimer, shows with realism, understanding, and with a flair for the humour to be found in the idiosyncratic behaviour of those to whom they believe are the absolute centre of the world.
The manner of discourse to be found in the adaption, of the love between the two cousins, Linda Radlett and Fanny Logan, played with sparkling involvement by Lily James and the redoubtable Emily Beecham, is illuminating. The sense of early 20th Century myopic views is there for all to see as the didactic fight against Victorian morals begins to take shape, and the yearning to escape the misogynistic blueprint laid out for them in a pre-World War Two Britain is to be urged upon the viewer as showing that all that is being fought for now, must not forget what their grandmothers and great grandmothers endured in the name of progress.
To escape one’s social position is not new, and for the children of the inner city who see duty in the responsibility of staying true to what has always been, can be seen as a direct contrast to the belief in other’s minds as they struggle with the virtue of tradition. In this contrast and set against the plight of the Republican movement during the Spanish Civil War and the precursor of the war in Europe, freedom is, in the end, what you make of it, and with the tight rigidity of thought imposed upon by Uncle Matthew, played to perfection by Dominic West, counterbalancing the social ambiguity and flightiness of Fanny’s mother, The Bolter, The Pursuit Of Love is one of absolute brilliant conflict.
What is humour and fun without pathos, what is life without the ability to leave somewhere that makes you unhappy; in the end the only truth is that love doesn’t happen all that often, and it must be seized wholeheartedly at every opportunity.
A glorious adaption, full of life, lessons, and observation, Emily Mortimer has spread her wings further and has proven herself to be an eyewitness to joy.
Ian D. Hall