The Sunday Leader - By Sumaya Samarasinghe
A new Stephen Frears movie is generally preceded by a buzz of excitement. After all, we owe him some of the most interesting, risqué, and creative pieces in British cinema.
Daniel Day Lewis’ career was launched thanks to My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears, Dirty Pretty Things and Dangerous Liaisons, only to name a few from a long list of unforgettable movies which have all left their mark among cinema aficionados.
So many were a little surprised when it was announced that Frears was going to adapt a cartoon script by Posy Simmonds called Tamara Drew based on Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel Far From The Madding Crowd. The heroine Bathsheba has been replaced with Tamara Drewe, a newspaper columnist working for The Independent who mainly writes about herself. She returns to Ewedown, the village where she grew up to do up her old family mansion which her mother left her and since everyone in the village is bored to death, her arrival is going to cause quite a stir among the entire population.
Read moreFirst with Andy (Luke Evans), her hunky ex boyfriend who realises, oh surprise, that he still loves her and is on the verge of losing her yet again to a narcissistic and hilarious boy band drummer played by Dominic Cooper who is absolutely fantastic in his supporting role.
The third man in Tamara’s life is Nicolas Hardiment, a famous crime fiction author who lives on a farm/writers retreat called Stonefield, run by his long-suffering wife Beth who also doubles as his secretary, cook, manager and just allows him to cheat under her nose. While she does react to his philandering, Beth keeps taking him back and puts up with some of the best lines spat out by a cheating husband; “We are like a pair of compasses, joint solidly at the top with the ends roaming in freedom!”, “I am always taking you for granted, I am vile I know” (this is after Nic makes Beth understand that her clothes aren’t nice enough to go out, whereas his actual plan was to go meet his sexy mistress who has come to Ewedown.)
The couple have their screaming battles before a delighted bunch of writers who are all except for one immensely entertained by their hosts’ marital issues.
Glen the American academic who is writing a book of Thomas Hardy is beginning to have feelings for Beth and is quite appalled at the way her husband is treating her.
The key characters who control the destinies of the adult protagonists are two local schoolgirls Jody and Casey. They throw eggs on moving cars, break into Tamara’s computer and send salacious emails from Tamara to Andy, Ben and Nic. Their actions wreck havoc in the lives of many especially Tamara’s, but yet, when discovered, the adults concerned ‘understand’ that their actions can somewhat be blamed on the situation they are in.
Behind Frears’s humour and lighter tone, hides certain social issues which makes one realise the precarious situation the whole town is in. The girls want any life except that of their parents; with no income, nothing ever happening at Ewedown, single parents struggling to make ends meet; they see Ben and Tamara’s affair like a miraculous event taking place for the sole purpose of brightening their shallow existence.
Tamara’s character is perhaps one of the hardest to define. She used to be (and we see this thanks to special effects which are brought in from time to time to fill in the blanks) an ugly duckling with a massive nose. She returns home after getting a nose job and her newfound beauty does not leave her in need of suitors.
Tamara isn’t short of ambition but as Beth says, “there is something sad about Tamara”. She seems emotionally detached with no ties nor does she seem to be looking for any. Her judgment of men is a tad bit bizarre eventhough the impression that was given was that she really loved her rock star fiancé who seems completely and utterly on another wave length. Tamara sees no issues going to bed with her older married neighbour and uses him to get tips for her novel.
Gemma Atherton is brilliant in the title role. Not always the most likeable character as Tamara is completely self absorbed and has very little patience for anyone except herself.
This isn’t your usual Stephen Frears, but Tamara Drewe is filled with laughter, witty lines and gorgeous settings, not to be missed under any circumstances.
