I saw Miss Potter at the weekend; brilliant film. Beatifully captures the way in which she made her way out of the stifling expectations of her mother (who had very fixed ideas about what women should do - marry well, run a household, hold lavish parties etc), and became very independent thanks to the support of Norman Warne, her publisher, and Millie Warne, his sister.
There is a genuine sense of wonder in it, some marvellous scenery (in the Lake District), and the leads (Renée Zellweger as Beatrix, Ewan McGregor as Norman Warne, and Emily Watson as Millie Warne) make an engaging and very real film; sterling support is given by Barbara Flynn as her mother, always disapproving, and Bill Paterson as her father, wonderfully acted as a kindly warm man, who gave up art himself and went into law because his family expected it, but who clearly doted on Beatrix and wanted her talent to shine as his never was able to. Her chaperone, who had once been her nurse, and who in Victorian society was always needed to be present, is a small role but brought to life by Matyelok Gibbs in a charming performance.
After the death of Norman Warne (whom she was secretly engaged to), she found solace in buying and maintaining a working farm in the Lake District, where she met and eventually married a friend she had known from childhood, William Heelis (Lloyd Owen). There she bought up (with money from her books) 4,000 acres to maintain farms as working rather than let them be snapped up by developers from London who saw fashionable houses ("luxury"??) in the Lakes as a very lucrative enterprise.
The film is just over 90 minutes long (not 2-3 hours like some) and never seems drawn out or meandering as a result. I found it the most enjoyable film I had seen at the Cinema for a long time, it felt so refreshing (an odd word, but explains how I felt), and it made me want to re-visit the Lakes, where she found her home.
Magic!
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