In 1920 Littlehampton, prim Christian spinster Edith starts getting anonymous profanity-laden offensive letters, and others subsequently join the mailing list. The blame lands on her bawdy unfiltered Irish single mother next door neighbour Rose, who is soon in danger of prison and losing her daughter. Fortunately, Woman Police Officer Gladys is sure of Rose's innocence and has ideas about how to find the culprit. Unfortunately, Gladys is constrained by the police force's view of her gender.
The trailer for this film looked hilarious (and, to be, fair, it is often very funny), but it is much darker, and with far more drama than I expected. I enjoyed it, but it is not the film I expected it to be. The humour almost all derives from the improbably florid obscenity of the letters and its delivery by straight-laced people who are horrified (and occasionally secretly delighted) by the filth they are uttering. There is also a very short and hilarious sequence of Gladys throwing a silent tantrum in frustration at being stonewalled by her superior.
It is based on a true story, albeit one suspects some liberties have been taken, though not with the framework of the tale. And therein lies my main reservation. This is a period piece, but it is fatally undermined by anachronisms, which fall in two main areas.
One is dialogue. There are verbal expressions and vocabulary choices which are distractingly modern. The other is colourblind casting. I don't normally have a problem with colourblind casting, but in a period piece like this, a black judge in southern England in 1920 is distractingly inaccurate. Worse, Gladys is played (rather wonderfully) by Anjana Vasan, an actress of Indian heritage. The screenplay repeatedly makes the point that she is denigrated because she is female, but her race is not mentioned. In 1920, it would have been and I fear that, laudable is these casting choices might be in principle, in practice they served to pull me out of the story.
But Olivia Coleman has great fun as Edith, Jessie Buckley is an utter joy as Rose, Anjana Vasan is comically deadpan, and Timothy Spall gives depth to arguably the most difficult character - all the performances are good, and the film is well worth watching on that basis alone. As long as you don't mind a bit of bad language! Or a lot...
The trailer for this film looked hilarious (and, to be, fair, it is often very funny), but it is much darker, and with far more drama than I expected. I enjoyed it, but it is not the film I expected it to be. The humour almost all derives from the improbably florid obscenity of the letters and its delivery by straight-laced people who are horrified (and occasionally secretly delighted) by the filth they are uttering. There is also a very short and hilarious sequence of Gladys throwing a silent tantrum in frustration at being stonewalled by her superior.
It is based on a true story, albeit one suspects some liberties have been taken, though not with the framework of the tale. And therein lies my main reservation. This is a period piece, but it is fatally undermined by anachronisms, which fall in two main areas.
One is dialogue. There are verbal expressions and vocabulary choices which are distractingly modern. The other is colourblind casting. I don't normally have a problem with colourblind casting, but in a period piece like this, a black judge in southern England in 1920 is distractingly inaccurate. Worse, Gladys is played (rather wonderfully) by Anjana Vasan, an actress of Indian heritage. The screenplay repeatedly makes the point that she is denigrated because she is female, but her race is not mentioned. In 1920, it would have been and I fear that, laudable is these casting choices might be in principle, in practice they served to pull me out of the story.
But Olivia Coleman has great fun as Edith, Jessie Buckley is an utter joy as Rose, Anjana Vasan is comically deadpan, and Timothy Spall gives depth to arguably the most difficult character - all the performances are good, and the film is well worth watching on that basis alone. As long as you don't mind a bit of bad language! Or a lot...