One of my dreams is to visit Guersnay and the other islands that the Brits call the Channel Islands. I am fascinated by the history, landscapes and stories of those who visited them. Now another reason has been added – watching the 2018 film ‘The Guernsay Literary and Potato Pie Society‘ by Mike Newall. The director of the ultimate British film in the genre of ‘good feeling’ (I mean, of course, ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’) manages to turn a war drama combined with a story about the power of the written word and reading into another film that belongs to this genre in which he is an expert. The result is one of those films that separates the opinions of critics from those of the majority of the public. This time my opinions go hand in hand with those of the general public. ‘Guernsay‘ (allow me to abbreviate the name) is a movie that I liked, I was interested in, I was excited about, I felt good after viewing it. That was the goal, wasn’t it?
We are dealing with two stories. The outer one has as its heroine Juliet Ashton, a London journalist and writer, who entertains with a group of Guernsey residents during World War II a correspondence related to their passion for reading. The emotional and intriguing story of the group of simple people who find moral support in their love of books in the only English territory under German occupation causes her to travel after the war to the British island, located much closer to the continent than England, to meet them personally. She will find not only a group of people who survived the hard times of the war in various ways, but also a mystery about the disappearance of one of the members of the club. Gradually a story of heroism and betrayal, impossible love and social prejudice is revealed to her. In addition, her existence will be disturbed, including her love life.
Critics of the film blame it for clichés in the plot (almost everything that happens is predictable) and for creating the image of an idealized nice and sweet England that did not exist and does not exist in reality. Even if I accept these flaws, they seem minor to me compared to the charm of each scene, the emotional intensity of the story, the depth and psychological diversity of the characters. Of course, much of the deep impression that this film made to me is due to the impression the performances of the actors made on me. I should list them all, but I’ll just name Lily James, in the lead role, a character one can’t help but fall in love with, and Tom Courtney, the rebellious young man from the ‘kitchen sink’ movies, the British equivalent and contemporary of the French New Wave, now at the age of great roles that conclude an impressive career. ‘Guernsay‘ is a film that I recommend to all those who believe in the power of books, who love historical films and romantic stories, and who love England. In fact, is anybody else left out? Maybe just a few movie critics.