Make no mistake: Alicia Vikander is the real deal and she’s here to stay. 2015 was the year of Vikander POWER, with her brilliant work in Ex-Machina, her much lauded performance in The Danish Girl (which I’ve yet to see), her playfully sexy romp in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and her quietly forceful turn in the staid and solid British WWI drama Testament of Youth. This is material that’s been done to death, and while there’s nothing revolutionary about the material or approach, there’s a comfortable squareness to the production, all of which is anchored by Vikander’s excellent portrayal of a woman caught at multiple crossroads at various points in her life. Capably directed by James Kent and efficiently written by Juliette Towhidi, the film was based on the memoir by Vera Brittain, and details her struggles both with herself and the social environment that she found herself a part of.
A strong willed and fiercely independent woman in the face of almost certain lifelong domestication, she wasn’t interested in getting married and becoming arm candy for a rich suitor; she had her own dreams and aspirations, despite her father’s insistence that she find a suitable husband before anything else. She gets accepted to Somerville College, an offshoot of Oxford, ends up reluctantly falling in love, and then WWI explodes on the scene, changing her life forever, with her joining the Voluntary Aid Detachment as a nurse serving near the front lines of battle, caring for both British and German soldiers wounded in London and France. Again, this material is tried and true, the production goes through the expected paces, and the entire piece finishes on a downbeat note that is appropriately sad and tragic. Taron Egerton (so terrific in last year’s Kingsman), Emily Watson, Haley Atwell, Dominic West, Miranda Richardson, Kit Harrington, and Colin Morgan all provide solid supporting turns. Rob Hardy’s studious and cleanly composed widescreen cinematography is a major highlight, while the musical score from Max Richter hits the expected notes of poignancy. This film never received any sort of wide or even semi-wide theatrical release in the United States. Saoirse Ronan was once attached to Vikander’s role, for which she received a Best Actress nomination from the British Independent Film Awards.
Podcasting Them Softly 