THE BOOKSHOP (2017) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Isabel Coixet
Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson,
Honor Kneafsey, James Lance, Frances Barber
In this screen adaptation of Penelope Fitzgerald's novel, Emily Mortimer plays Florence Green, a widow who realizes a lifelong dream by opening a bookshop in a town on the coast of England. Bill Nighy plays a reclusive bibliophile who becomes her unlikely ally against the town's resident harpy and self-appointed arbiter of everything, played with imperious venom by Patricia Clarkson. Everything about this - the writing, the acting, the direction and the music - is pitched a couple beats over the top, and watching it is like reading one of those 19th-century novels where you know exactly who to sympathize with and who to hate. If the execution didn't balance out perfectly, it wouldn't work at all. Mortimer and Nighy are beautifully matched as two people whose passion for each other is obvious but are destined to not quite connect, while Clarkson is so cold and condescending, even her lipstick looks mean. Anybody who loves books, or movies about books, or movies based on books, would do well to stop by "The Bookshop". Chances are, you'll find a copy of "Lolita" there, too.
