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[Warning: this review contains spoilers regarding the plot and fate of characters]
Playwright Moira Buffini has adapted Posy Simmond’s graphic novel in a contemplative way, so that the audience can consider just how dependent society is on celebrity culture and its ability to ruin relationships. With the conventions of a soap opera such as Eastenders and the over-friendly but tense soundtrack from something like Midsummer Murders, Tamara Drewe’s sleepy hometown of Ewedown comes alive as she makes her return as a provocative beauty with ‘unfinished business’. She appears no longer with a repulsive conk of a nose leading her reputation, but instead a new plastic one which is a leading motif within the film as we watch noses either being stuck in other people’s business, or being broken by angry farmers.
The film is slightly separated into several compact narratives, or problems, a convention often found in romantic comedies such as Valentine’s Day (2010) to establish an engaging and complex story. Gemma Arterton creates a scandal in this small town, similar to the hype she is generating in the film world as she climbs the ladder to A-List heaven. Finally grasping a femme fatale role, Arterton also has the chance to merge her work from the TV series Tess of the D’Urbervilles, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s book, as playing a country girl. Her contribution within Lost in Austen also indicates her ability to perform as an emotional character, however, the most admirable female in Tamara Drewe is without a doubt Beth Hardiment (Black Books’ Tamsin Greig). Part of the dialogue is communicated in voiceovers, enabling the audience to discover secrets that the remaining characters are oblivious to, although there is one character, American Glen McCreavy (Bill Camp) who observes and hears all. In one unique scene Beth Hardiment addresses the audience directly by looking into the camera, giving the impression she is treating us as a close friend.
What is so admirable about Beth Hardiment is her blind-eye approach towards her husband’s affairs, as Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam) uses their ‘writer’s retreat’ home as a setting for flirtatiousness with avid fans to boost his ego and relaxed crime novelist lifestyle while Beth surrounds herself in homemade delights. Her character is similar to that of Karen (Emma Thompson) in Love Actually (2003) who also ignores her husband’s deceitful actions; despite being unaware it is their ignorance that allows the men to stray in the first place. It would not be appropriate to laugh at Beth’s pain, however director Stephen Frear has made her consequences worsen in an entertaining manner; for example as she finds a picture message on her phone, proceeds to drop her mixture bowl and begins to cry, she also sobs, “I trod in the sponge mix” in a disappointing way, and the reality here dawns that we can all relate to these times of fear, anger and ‘things can’t get any worse’.
The competitive writers’ located at the retreat express the film industry as a whole, as they yearn to be published or even heard of. The small town of Ewedown thrives on celebrity culture as I mentioned, and two gossip girls in particular, Jody Long (Jessica Barden) and Casey Shaw (Charlotte Christie), never seen without a magazine, urge the narrative forward by interfering on a more personal scale, as lustful seventeen-year-old Jody attempts to convince Tamara’s love interest, rock star Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper) to return to Ewedown in hope to seduce him herself. This mad obsession initiates a pattern in the film, as younger girls seek love in older men, and is especially apparent when Jody chooses Ben over her only friend, influenced by her fixation with fame. Tamara shows no interest in childhood sweetheart Andy Cobb (Luke Evans) who is technically the film’s prince charming, but instead pursues the more experienced type. It was quite uncomfortable to watch intimate scenes with such an obvious age gap between the characters, much like the romance between Rose (Emily Blunt) and Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy) in Wild Target (2009). As Tamara climbs over a fence in the beginning of the film, Beth says miserably “She’s poured herself into those shorts; I hope they don’t give her thrush” as though she is fighting her ground as all men look on with open mouths, there is some obvious tension between the older women and younger, energetic women in the film.
The film as a whole is fairly sexual. Sex in the pub, the shed, and less adventurously in Tamara’s bed but perhaps not all audiences, specifically older audiences, will appreciate how feisty the film is. They may not approve of the increasingly bad language, either. Dominic Cooper’s indulgence with eyeliner makes his hard-guy drummer appearance appealing to any teenage girls in the audience; in spite of this he is much less romantic than his Mamma Mia! (2008) role. Not only does this film introduce a pressure within our culture in relation to celebrities and keeping up with the ‘goss’, it also makes a statement on appearance in reference to Tamara’s atrocious nose. As if society didn’t have enough to worry about, the more self-conscious consumers of Tamara Drewe may take this part of the narrative on borderline offensive.
On the other hand, those who are familiar with Thomas Hardy and the story of The Well Beloved, where a man is unable to commit to one woman but instead falls in love with three women of the same family in different generations, can apply this story to the themes of Tamara Drewe, as the audience are pulled through emotions of betrayal, confusion, excitement and sympathy. There are gaps left to be filled with our own thoughts; the ending is abrupt and unexplained, leaving myself a little bewildered by the disappearance of continuity. The fate of Beth is left in the air, and a death of one of the characters is the only ‘dark’ part of this comedy and left until the end which was quite anti-climactic. Having not read the original source I cannot comment on how genuine the film was to the novel side of things, but it felt slightly unnecessary to have the seasons displayed to us to depict the passing of time, if anything these were ignored. As a British comedy Tamara Drewe is endearing regardless of the urinating cows, which only illustrates and emphasises the true British countryside.
