Film Screening 1st May, 2007

Poster for Miss Potter

Miss Potter 

8:00 PM, 1st May, 2007

  • G
  • 88 mins
  • 2006
  • Chris Noonan
  • Richard Maltby Jr
  • Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson

As a kid I remember stirring maths teachers, falling off bikes, long summers and reading books by Beatrix Potter, those classic stories of the adventures of Peter Rabbit. I havent grown up at all - some of those things still happen! Since then, I have often wondered who Beatrix Potter really was. What did she look like? Where did she live? I always thought she was some little old English lady with round glasses who lived in a place like Hampshire. Seeing this movie displaced the myth I had that she was a little old lady, and in fact was quite young when she wrote many of her classic tales. This is what Miss Potter does well; it destroys our misconceptions about who Beatrix Potter was. Miss Potter is the biography of Beatrix Potter (Zellweger). Zellweger brings life into the character to show us that Beatrix Potter was like anyone; she wanted love, affection and stability from someone who wanted to be with her for life. That someone was publisher Norman Warne, played brilliantly by Ewan McGregor who gives the role 100%. At times the movie slips into neutral, but McGregor and Zellweger always put it back into gear before too long. I always saw a lot of similarities in the plot line with this movie and My Brilliant Career, with very similar acting styles as well by Zellweger and Davis. Another similarity was that I enjoyed My Brilliant Career the first time I saw it as I did Miss Potter. I'm sure you will too and it adds another great dimension to the story of Beatrix Potter and all the wonderful characters she created. '

Andrew Hughes