Lunch & a Movie Series :: Albatross
Albatross (2011)
Written by Tamzin Rafn
Directed by Niall MacCormick
watched on Netflix
Trailer
About the Movie: Albatross is the story of Emilia, an aspiring novelist and seemingly free spirit with a questionable past. She takes a job in a family run Inn and befriends the family (well most of them) in complicated, and potentially devastating, ways.
Brief Synopsis: Emelia Conan Doyle (Jessica Brown Findlay), a rebellious teenage dropout who believes she is a descendant of Arthur Conan Doyle, takes a job as a cleaner in a seaside hotel owned by Jonathan Fischer (Sebastian Koch). Jonathan is a writer from Germany who has struggled with writer’s block since his successful first novel, The Cliff House, was published 21 years before. He lives in the hotel with his wife Joa (Julia Ormond), a reluctantly retired actress, and their two daughters, Beth, 17, (Felicity Jones) and Posy, 6 (Alexis Zegerman).
Jonathan is constantly sequestered in the attic working on his writing, leaving the hotel to be run by Joa. Their marriage is stormy as Joa is unhappy about Jonathan’s lack of success in his profession and his disconnected parenting, as well as the fact that she’s had to put aside her career to run the Inn and raise their daughters. In contrast, Emelia has lived with her grandparents since her mother committed suicide.
On her first day of work, Emelia catches Jonathan in a compromising position alone in the attic. She meets Beth, who is applying to study medicine at Oxford. Beth invites Emilia to dinner with the family, during which Emelia reveals she is writing a novel but is struggling to live up to the Conan Doyle name. Later, Jonathan offers Emilia creative writing lessons. They conduct their lessons secretly in the attic, which eventually leads to a romantic affair.
Meanwhile, Emelia teaches Beth to explore her rebellious side and the two become best friends. Emelia’s friendship with Beth causes guilt in regards to Emilia’s dalliances with Beth’s Father, which she tries to end without anyone ever needing to find out, which may or may not cause a breakdown for all the characters, in their own way.
Sometimes breakdowns are necessary, sometimes clarity comes out of chaos, and sometimes rebellion masks the search for understanding.
Why I chose it: This one came directly from a recommendation from my oldest daughter who said a friend had told her about it, and after watching the trailer, she felt it was a movie I would love. I am a huge fan of indie films, and stories that center on coming-of-age and of friendship, even better, if the movie has a strong female lead.
My thoughts in three sentences: Just as the Fischer family fell in love with Emilia, I did I as the story unfolded. What I didn’t love, though, is the lack of full character development in the other female characters, especially Joa and Beth; at first I took the story as to be seen through Emilia’s perspective only, but there were scenes without her in them, and in those scenes I would have liked to have seen more complexity to the other women in the film. Emilia though, felt fully formed and complex, a character that I wanted to know what happened after the credits started to roll.
Best: Emilia and her relationships and connections with people, most especially her friendship with Beth and her bond with her Grandfather, both relationships that I wanted more story about. I loved the trip to Oxford and the ups and downs of Emilia and Beth’s friendship. It was real the way it was portrayed, including the parts where Beth didn’t see how she was hurting Emilia by underestimating her, and in some cases, using her as a way to rebel. In the end, when we see Beth in Emilia’s tee shirt I wanted her to say something to her, to connect with Emilia somehow, but maybe the sight of the shirt was enough. I sort of hoped that somehow Emilia would have ended up at Oxford, too.
Worst: The lack of character development for Joa and Beth. Joa seemed to written as a caricature of a bitter, aging wife and mother, but I wanted to know more about her, more about her past as an actress, and some kind of sign that she and Jonathan had love between them, at least in some way, way back past. She seemed angry all the time, but it felt too one-note. As for Beth, she did have more layers to her, to a certain degree, but I wanted to see more of where she fit in her life, with her friends (she must have had some friends), and with her mother. The good girl attracted to the allure of the bad girl is certainly a well-worn plot device, and it is one that works well, but in this case I wish we’d gotten to know the “good girl” a little more – I’ve seen Felicity Jones play complex characters, and at times there were hints of it in her portrayal of Beth, I just wanted more (maybe the “more” wound up on the editing floor).
Rating (out of 5): 3.5
Oxford Comma :: Vampire Weekend
featured in the Albatross’ soundtrack
lyriquediscorde 