Tuesday, January 4, 2011



Tamara Drewe



Tamara Drewe is a British comedy film of 2010 starring Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans and Dominic Cooper. It is directed by Stephen Frears, an English film director who has already won several awards and who has directed more than 20 films. The film is based on a graphic novel, published weekly in the British newspaper The Guardian. This graphic novel is, in its turn, based on an adaptation of the famous novel Far from the Madding Crowd, written by the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy.



The plot is rather easy. The central character Tamara Drewe, once a shy and unattractive teenager, returns to her fictional home village Ewedown in Dorset, in the South West of England, as a beautiful journalist after a rhinoplasty. Her main intention is to sell her inherited mother’s house. The inhabitants of Ewedown are surprised by her appearance and some are even attracted to her. Andy had a relationship with Tamara when they were teenagers and at present he is still in love with her. The couple Nicholas and Beth Hardiment lives in Tamara’s neighbouring house, where authors can stay to work on their books. Nicholas is a writer himself and has many affairs with other women; he also has one with Tamara. He seems to appeal to women despite his unattractiveness. Beth almost always stays at home. She provides food for the authors and looks after them. Tamara meets the rock star Ben Sergeant at a concert where she wants to interview him. They madly fall in love and Ben stays in Ewedown, they even get engaged, but they split up after a while. Very funny are the two local schoolgirls Josey and Casey. Their head is always full of silly ideas. They throw eggs at cars and send emails in Tamara’s name. Jody is in “love” with Ben and therefore jealous of Tamara. When Ben leaves Ewedown, Jody tries everything to allure him back. Beth finds out her husband’s unfaithfulness, it affects her deeply. She wants a divorce and becomes fond of one of her lodgers. Towards the end of the movie, Beth’s husband Nicholas is killed in an accident. It is a rather shocking part because the film is a comedy and you don’t expect it. The humour is suddenly interrupted by a serious tragedy. But the film has a happy ending; Tamara and Andy get together again. Tamara also decides to stay in Ewedown and not to sell her mother’s house after all.



I must say that I expected a bit more of the movie due to positive reviews. However, it was quite a good movie. It was funny and the actors were nice. In my opinion, the movie lasted a bit too long; it sometimes gets a bit boring because there are some predictable parts.



by Désirée Andres


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