Beatrix Potter in this movie, is an artist and a 32 year old woman forced to bear with the whims of a social climbing mother and a society that has yet to recognize the value of women in, well, any role other than that of the traditional, which in the 1800s was fairly limited. You were expected to remain loyal to your parent’s every whim, you are not allowed to be alone with a man without an escort, higher education was optional and basically you just hung around waiting for someone suitable (in your parent’s eyes) to court you, marry him, have his children and mold your daughters to do same.
That’s pretty much it. A boring, staid and predictable life.
Which can also be said for for how this movie could have turned out. First of all all those first scenes where she starts talking to her drawings could have been interpreted as her going cuckoo. I’m not sure if the director meant that, but there it is. I thought, at the start of the movie, that we were going to deal with a woman who was slightly nuts, and I was worried I’d have to sit through an hour and a half of that.
I’m glad it didn’t.
Then, there is the all too typical story of a woman in the 1800s having to deal with society’s strict and decidedly silly norms of the time, and her ‘spirit rising through it’, as covered quite expansively in Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, and any number of period British films with British actors in petticoats and long tail coats. Of course I’ve read them. Of course I found them alright. But no, of course not, i didn’t wanna go through one again. And the fact that Renee Zellweger, an American whom, one might think at the start, might be biting off more than she could chew as she eschews yet another role as a single British woman, is playing the title role, makes the prospect of having to go through another thoroughly unpalatable.
Again, I’m glad it didn’t as well.
Rather, what we have here is Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, serving up something terrific. Ms. Potter is a story of a woman struggling in the 1800s and all that, but so much more. It is a story about an author and illustrator trying to get her art acknowledged and published, it is a story about a great weak in the knees, page – turning romance novel worthy love, and finally, an impressive person who rises from tragedy and dashed hopes as she maintains her sanity via her art, consequently using it for the better of both herself and, as it turns out, her community.
Oh how easy it would’ve been for the story to have fallen by the wayside. The subplot of her mother’s grandiose plans of marrying her daughter into a title is the stuff of Mexican tele novelas guaranteeing instant distribution to HBO within a week of release. But only a subplot it all turned out to be thank God, and by the last quarter of the movie her parents were thankfully packed away to the nether parts of the film where secondary characters live, never to be heard from again.
The romance between her and McGregor’s character is true goose bumps material, and I can’t remember any particular film in recent memory where the romantic lead actor and actresses have ever hit it off so well. McGregor and Zellweger showed sparks in the delightful “Down With Love“, but who would’ve thought they could bring so much much more. This time full – on fireworks explode at their presence, which I’m actually glad to see given how Obi-Wan has disappointed me so much since Trainspotting, but that’s another story.
With courage I think, this movie focuses on what is really important about Ms. Potter – her lifelong love and pursuit of her art, the publication and raging success of which confirms not only her talent, but acknowledges her person and the beliefs she holds dear. The message the story delivers is clear as day. Because you pursue what you really believe in with no compromise, success awaits you at the end. How wonderful it would be if all such stories could end in success, and movies like this actually stops you from being jaded for a second – making you think that maybe it could be you making all those drawings, telling all those stories, pursuing all those dreams.
I won’t be surprised to see Zellweger nominated or actually receiving something special for her role in this one. So easily it could’ve gone wrong, but subtly – and successfully – she managed to get it right. I am inspired by Ms. Beatrix Potter and her headstrong ways. From this movie I learned that such a person like her existed. I was entertained, I got goose bumps at the right parts and I laughed and felt depressed when I was supposed to as well. All in all I came out the movie knowing I had a good time plus with a slight feeling that maybe, possibly, I maybe the smarter for it too.
I like Ms. Potter and, as a consequence, I like this movie very much.
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