Forty years after the release of British author Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel, fans of The Bookshop get the opportunity to see the story on the big screen.
Like many novels, it doesn’t translate perfectly to the movie format, but it’s an engaging story of a young woman who, in 1959, has the audacity to open the first bookshop in the quaint English town of Hardborough.
Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) is a war widow whose lifelong dream is to have a book store. Despite severe opposition by Violet Gamart, Hardborough’s self-declared boss of everything, Florence succeeds in opening a live-work bookshop in a dilapidated old stone house. The shop is especially well received by Edmund Brandish (the brilliant Bill Nighy), an aristocratic recluse who prefers books to people, and happily becomes her best customer.
The two gradually form a tender friendship as they excitedly discover new authors and titles together. They decide she should stock the controversial novel Lolita, a decision that ruffles Violet’s feathers, to say the least.
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Violet (the excellent Patricia Clarkson) launches a campaign to mobilize the townspeople against Florence’s shop and have her ousted. Florence acts with dignity as she attempts to stand up to Violet, whose superficial graciousness and courtesy are only covers for her ruthlessness. Despite Edmund’s assistance in Florence’s fight, they begin to fear that her quest to keep the book store is doomed.
The Bookshop is a slow but poignant drama with very good acting; watching Mortimer and Nighy together is a treat. Although from a bygone era, the movie is contemporary in that it depicts insatiable greed for control, regardless of consequences.
Please note The Bookshop has two showings at 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 24 at the Salmar Classic.
Related: Banff Film Festival presents a world of adventure
And, if you didn’t get a chance to catch the sold-out Banff Mountain Film event, we have a treat for you.
Wednesday, Nov. 28 is our last documentary of 2018 and we’re showing Mountain.
This is a breathtaking and awe-inspiring homage to mountains – their magnificence, their deadly potential (to adventurers and risk-takers) and their place in earth’s eco-system.
It shows at the Classic at 7:30 p.m.
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