FountainPen Brilliant storyline which could have resulted in a powerful, positive movie, but this production falls flat, with lots of ups and downs, unhappily. The film is plagued by a few nasty, loud songs apparently by below-par folk "artistes"; these annoying puerile songs should have been deleted or replaced with something appropriate. and appealing Most reviews rate this flick very low. I noticed two that gave a 10/10 rating!! Hmmm. When I checked (am always very suspicious about 10/10 ratings for movies that average below 6/10), I found that both these "reviewers" have rated only ONE movie on IMDb, yes, this film. These are their headings: "Let's not confuse uncomfortable with bad." by SusanGinny and "Loved it!" by jax-37159. Hmmm!About 35 minutes in, the film pretty much dies for a while, as things come virtually to a dead stop, as though the entire cast and crew had decided to take a break! There's a scene in which two characters do not speak for about a minute, just sit holding hands (the boy fondling the girl)! What sort of direction is THAT? Significance? A few minutes later, there's another irritating song by a silly, drippy singer: what am I missing? What was the meaning? Lost on me. A couple of minutes later the song or another pops up briefly, for no reason. What's going on? 48 minutes in another song with loud solo guitar cuts in "The moon is like a boat, my love, with lemon peel afloat, my love..." HUH? This ditty is sung by the character Abbie, but what the heck does it mean? Incidentally, the superbly beautiful Florence Pugh, born January 1996, plays Abbie; I predict a very bright future for this actress. Anyway, WHO decided on all the music? Good grief! Just a minute later yet ANOTHER irritating loud loud song assaults our ears "I've been waiting for a long time" sung by a lad in a high-pitched voice. This is too damn much. Horrible. By now I just feel like turning off the DVD player and reading a book. As the film continues, there's more hideous, inappropriate, raucous music! Really testing my patience ~ the "music" in this film is a huge put-off. I'll set aside consideration of the strange event happening in this film, at a girls' school, as others have dealt with that and you can read it online... no, it's nothing to do with the music! I will say that the occurrence of the event is repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated.... BORING! We got the idea after the 6th time, thank you!!I'll rate this movie 3/10, cannot go higher, all considered. In other hands, I believe this story could be re-scripted, the oddball music deleted, and made into a film that would rate at least 6/10. #

malibusurferdude Very Art-house, great cast and an interesting story. While there seems to be many haters of this film. I found it very entertaining. Since I have seen this film I have searched for other Maxine Peake films and watched them. We all love Maisie Williams actually she is why I watched this. The Director Carol Morley tells a beautiful story of love and life, give it watch!

bob_meg Carol Morley's second feature achieves something rather spectacular, given that it's one of those indolent period pieces featuring two drastically different girlhood friends in Britain, circa 1969, both attending a strict repressive girl's school.It's notable in that, while containing no one action that sets the screen ablaze, it manages to keep you mesmerized for virtually its entire run-time. The themes of the story and the shooting style bear favorable, heavy influence from both Peter Weir's gorgeous Aussie fever-dream "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and Lindsey Anderson's prep-school-in-revolt landmark "If....".It also helps to have two young actresses of the astonishing caliber of Maisie Williams and Florence Pugh to play the lead roles. Williams, as Lydia, carries the emotional load of the piece wonderfully, as the smart-tongued sardonic underachiever with a nightmare home-life and a curiously-stunted sexuality (her older brother only half-teasingly refers to her as "Crazy Face"). Of course, her best friend Abbie (Pugh) is a beautiful blonde bombshell who succeeds at everything she tries, yet still carries an enormous amount of self-destructive baggage.When Abbie gets knocked up ("I don't understand it.... we did the Catholic thing... he PULLED OUT!"), her Sexcapades get even more daring until finally she begins collapsing at school. Shortly after, Lydia begins to experience the same symptoms and it soon becomes a contagion that has the student body literally swooning in the halls, with balletic abandon.Sounds rather stupid, doesn't it? Well, it isn't, thanks to the gravitas Morley imbues both her characters with as well as the mystery beneath which cuts with razor-like precision at the issues of repression, conformism, and parental abandonment. Add to that a career-making turn by Maxine Peake as Lydia's agoraphobic, terminally-depressed mother and you have a film that enraptures more by what it doesn't tell you, than what it does.

ryan-883-76096 Loved everything about this film; the music, cinematography and imagery; it really did conjure another world. The attention to detail captured the era perfectly and completely transported me back to those hormonal and angsty teenage years. I don't think I've ever known the subject of mass hysteria tackled before, but this film really captures the essence of it and made it at once believable yet subject to scepticism. Loved the setting: the kitchen hairdresser, overalls and crockery; the outward elegance of the school hiding the severe regime within; all evocative of the time. What goes unsaid, self denial and restraint hiding a myriad of secrets and emotions. The ending really moved me, and I think provided explanations if you needed them. The teachers are typical of a strict religious education with their stiff etiquette and austere asexuality. Not a 'Mrs' among them with their odd ways and antiquated rules. Greta Scacchi was a complete tour de force. I couldn't decide if I wanted to hit her or hug her! And Maxine Peake was, well, as wonderful as she always is. Her expressions/non-expressions conveying her entrapment in her own kitchen and her undisclosed past.