wexfeld Review of Vera Drake

Vera Drake (2004)

A moving film with great acting but totally self-indulgent film-making

[4/10 · 16 April 2005]

As a period-piece film of 1950 Britain, the film has an authenticity that is remarkable. And the acting all around is superb. But the first half drifts a lot with whole scenes that do not advance the film at all, and the second half is worse: an unremittingly grim series of scenes of people staring at each other, with a few tears or grunts thrown in. I can't recall another movie with such long scenes of people staring at each other, crying, or simply so moved emotionally that they are unable to talk, nor one where the small amount of action takes forever to occur and is then repeated several times. There are other ways to convey strong emotion in a movie, and if the filmmaker feels that total resignation, tears, and grunts are the only way to do that, a few minutes of it (not 45 minutes or so) is sufficient. In short, this is self-indulgent film-making, with no sense of economy or of the need to move a story forward, rather than repeat the obvious over and over.