Watching movies is often a luck-of-the-draw process. If you're just picking movies at random that you think look good, but have no real knowledge of, you never know what you're going to end up with. This is usually how I do my Friday-night movie picking. I just look around for something I think will interest me, watch it, and see what happens. The quality of the movies vary. Some are awful. Some are pretty good. Some are really good. Once in a rare while, however, I'll stumble on a movie that is truly great, a cinematic gem that illuminates the viewer from the inside out, and just makes me feel wonderful for the rest of the day. I'm delighted to say that "Miss Potter" is one of those movies.
The movie is a biopic of children's author Beatrix Potter (played by Renee Zellweger), who at 32 was living in late Victorian London, still residing with her disapproving parents. The film follows the publishing of Potter's first book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" through her move to the Lake District and the purchase of Hilltop Farm, the farm that now serves as a tourist attraction and museum of Potter's life.
This movie is darling, probably one of the most beautiful films I've seen this year. Beatrix Potter's relationships with her fictional characters, and with her real-life friends and family, are lovingly drawn. In fact, some of the drawings even come to life briefly, providing magical interactions between the author and her creations. The film's romance between Potter and her publisher, Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor) is equally sweet and heartbreaking. Characters like Warne, his feminist sister Millie (Emily Watson) and Potter's mother (Barbara Flynn) are all quite realistic and great fun to watch.
Even more amazing is the scenery, especially in the Lake District, where the Potter family spent their summers, and where Beatrix eventually settled down. It's a great example of how amazingly green, hilly and pretty the English countryside is. This movie made me want to pack up, catch the next plane across the Atlantic, and move there.
"Miss Potter" will probably not recieve the attention it deserves, seeing as it
only came out in limited release, and has not recieved much fanfare on DVD. This is a shame. This heartwarming, inspiring movie belongs among the pantheon of great underrated films set in England, next to "the Secret Garden" and "Fairy Tale." If you want a movie that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, "Miss Potter" is just what the doctor ordered.