Opening with farewell is a pretty good way to lay out the stall for sonnet 111 as it does seem to be the end of a relationship. In this the sonnet seems to be an element of self-pitying, the writer blaming their own weaknesses on why the relationship didn't work out. Within there too though is an element of suggestion that the subject also perhaps knows their worth a bit too much now and perhaps part of the issue was also that the subject decided they could do better than the writer.
Matching this suggestion the film uses a couple of some age difference, showing a time where the younger man was more free spirited, but then the current time where the older man finds himself no longer required. Although the tone is rightly downbeat, I did think it played it a bit too heavy in its presentation, and it did feel a bit 'actorly' in the voice-over. Had I not read the sonnet beforehand I am not sure I would have picked up on the meaning – which is really one of the things I like this series when it does it well, providing a way in to make the text more accessible.
Despite this small misgiving though, it is still a solid, if unremarkable, film in the series.
Matching this suggestion the film uses a couple of some age difference, showing a time where the younger man was more free spirited, but then the current time where the older man finds himself no longer required. Although the tone is rightly downbeat, I did think it played it a bit too heavy in its presentation, and it did feel a bit 'actorly' in the voice-over. Had I not read the sonnet beforehand I am not sure I would have picked up on the meaning – which is really one of the things I like this series when it does it well, providing a way in to make the text more accessible.
Despite this small misgiving though, it is still a solid, if unremarkable, film in the series.