The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: A film with such a ridiculous title rarely excels itself quite like this, but Mike Newell's ('Four Weddings and a Funeral,' 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,') 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,' is actually an extremely good piece of British filmmaking that will have you gripped from start to finish. Yes on the one hand its story is told rather like a mystery as it follows a young author (Lilly James) just after the war visiting this titular society which formed under Nazi occupation of Guernsey. Once there, she begins to unravel the stories of these characters' tragic war years (shown to us using flashbacks), but with interesting twists and turns and a real lack of black and white clarity, it begins to turn into a truly gripping experience about how different people can interpret stories in different ways. That's rather wonderful in a film about someone literally writing a story, and in the end her realisations lead to a personal arc that's all about learning the power of true love whatever the circumstances. It may sound slightly twee, but it really isn't as it's a film that embraces its themes and its tragedy in affecting ways that will always keep you engaged and yearning for more.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The real story to be told is arguably that of the tragedy unravelling at its centre, and whilst the film does naturally give a lot of time to that, it's more so about the author character's journey so it doesn't quite pack the emotional punch that it could have.
  VERDICT: An engaging and enjoyable piece of British film, 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,' has a lot to say and is a lot better than its ridiculous title suggests.

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