My Life So Far (1999)
A memoir of the lives of a family growing up on a post World War I British estate headed up by a strong disciplinarian, her daughter, her inventor husband, their ten year old son and his older sister. Through the household comes a number of suitors hoping to impress the young woman, including an aviator. When the elder woman's son shows up at the estate with his French fiancé, everything gets thrown into turmoil. The young boy takes a sudden interest in her sexual allure and his father is disturbed by his own non-Victorian feelings.
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I thought this movie was overall delightful. It really captured the innocence of the narrator and the passage that we all must go through as we mature. I loved Colin Firth in this movie and his interactions with his son, the narrator, was well done. There were parts that made me laugh out loud and others that made me cringe because the awkwardness of the moment was so well portrayed and it made me feel as if I was there experiencing the moment with the characters.It is a bit of an odd movie if you do not like this genre, a bit slow and not quite so mainstream. However, it is nonetheless worth seeing, especially if you think Colin Firth is a great actor!
Spoilers herein.I'm not sure why this was made excepting the author was a bigwig with influence in the sponsoring organization. It has some charm, some atmosphere, a few amusing characters (a couple lovely women) and of course an innocent's discovery of lust. But pretty tepid stuff, all elements have been done better elsewhere.But I suppose the Scots need to practice, and this is tolerable enough.
I loved this period piece set in Scotland during the 40's. It is a coming of age story of Fraser Pettigrew.Most of the story was told through Fraser's precocious eyes. Both he, and his father Edward, develop an infatuation with Malcolm McDowell's "exotic child bride"(Irene Jacobs). Fraser and his aunt share a sweet friendship;she turns him onto jazz, Louie Armstrong and the like.His father Edward's (Colin Firth) love is unrequited and misplaced. He is a sympathetic character in the story until he develops this wandering eye. He is a hypocrite in that he wants to be pious and he wants & takes his sister-in-law and becomes the devil he warns Fraser of. Edward Pettigrew's foolish fantasy is revealed at Gamma's funeral for all to see. His only redemption is the true love of Moira played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrianni, who forgives him for all his foibles.
With an accomplished cast and some good reviews, I expected much more from this movie. Hoping for something along the lines of the great "My Life as a Dog", instead I found a stilted disjointed movie with no real soul. Malcolm McDowell was very good, but most other characters were two-dimensional, and the father, who apparently was a madcap inventor, comes across as a humorless corporate manager.