Runtime: 1hr 46min
Director: Gurinda Chadha
Release Date: 3rd March 2017
Rating: 12A (UK) TBC (US)
Director: Gurinda Chadha
Release Date: 3rd March 2017
Rating: 12A (UK) TBC (US)
It is a rare thing to be able to compliment a British Historical Drama on not showing a rose-tinted version of events - Viceroy's House deploys experienced acting and environmental charm to paint a harsh and realistic picture of events.
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From the trailer, Viceroy's House really did look like a comedy, rather than the drama it is supposed to be. It is lucky that the film did not go down this route; the partition of India caused displacement of millions, and hundreds of thousands of deaths, thus making a mockery out of this would not be the best move.
There are some humourous moments attempted, some of which are successful, but these do not flow well into the rest of the film as well as one might think when taking the trailer into consideration. There are many inconsistent jumps between humourous and tragic moments throughout, with Lord Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) making wise cracks about the country he's supposed to be ruling, jumping to the news of a religious-incited riot in Calcutta, for example.
Bonneville's role is perfect for his typecast, which isn't exactly a compliment since he essentially put no effort into the character; Gillian Anderson's accent as Lady Mountbatten was rather forced, and the inclusion of Jeet (Manish Dayal) and Aalia (Huma Qureshi) felt shoehorned in, and was missing key potential scenes to give their story depth. The acting overall was mediocre at best, and I did not find myself rooting for the love-story protagonists.
The movie's setting and environment was fantastic, costume design and atmosphere was near perfect as a whole, which is the greatest compliment I can give to this film; where the story and acting quality fall short of good or great, the ambiance was wonderful, and when the movie turns towards its' harsher side, the environment does still match the tone, with a crowded and dangerous atmosphere to counter-act the beautiful and picturesque scenes earlier in the film.
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The movie did seem to keep true to actual events, it is not like a British historical drama to manage to not paint Winston Churchill as a God among men. It is a shame there wasn't enough focus on the actual historical events, and concentrated on a half-finished love story during the progression of the movie.
There are some moments in the film where the characters are imposed into real footage and it looks terrible, but the cinematography is mostly acceptable - and that's what I can only describe the film as overall, simply acceptable; not terrible, but not great either.
