This sonnet is an interesting attempt to extend the words into visual meaning, while also struggling to allow the text to break out into performance and narrative. In the film we see a couple walking, with the woman (in voice-over mostly) wondering about the nature of her affection for her partner. Her thoughts are to grand things and their temporary nature, whereas she instead prefers the simpler and more innocent approach.
In the film it seems like this is presented as the children storming through the scene in their costumes, embracing the simple things while outside this odd little walk, the big city rages in all its modern complexity. So too the couple are this way, enjoying the simple nature of their joint affection, free of the care of more complex pursuits. Perhaps I am stretching a bit with this reading, but this is what I took from it – although I confess I had to read through the text before and after the film to come to that conclusion. I also liked that the final sentences are given some context (which the text doesn't provide), and they are spoken to a nosey neighbor looking out on the couple; this is ironic perhaps since this area is private and the neighbors would be right to look out at some strangers strolling through but not on a guided tour).
Although the words are given visual context, the film doesn't manage to give a lot to the cast to do. The children seem to enjoy their parts, but for the lead actress she really only has some voicework and a few contemplative looks to deliver. This is a bit of a shame since Harriet Walter is no slouch – a career spanning decades and a famous uncle in the shape of Christopher Lee. Likewise Peter Francis James (who has been in this series before, but also well known for Oz and a reoccurring character in the Law & Order series) doesn't have a great deal to do.
Still an interesting film in the way it extends the words, but it doesn't really manage to turn it into a narrative or performance that sticks or really engages.
In the film it seems like this is presented as the children storming through the scene in their costumes, embracing the simple things while outside this odd little walk, the big city rages in all its modern complexity. So too the couple are this way, enjoying the simple nature of their joint affection, free of the care of more complex pursuits. Perhaps I am stretching a bit with this reading, but this is what I took from it – although I confess I had to read through the text before and after the film to come to that conclusion. I also liked that the final sentences are given some context (which the text doesn't provide), and they are spoken to a nosey neighbor looking out on the couple; this is ironic perhaps since this area is private and the neighbors would be right to look out at some strangers strolling through but not on a guided tour).
Although the words are given visual context, the film doesn't manage to give a lot to the cast to do. The children seem to enjoy their parts, but for the lead actress she really only has some voicework and a few contemplative looks to deliver. This is a bit of a shame since Harriet Walter is no slouch – a career spanning decades and a famous uncle in the shape of Christopher Lee. Likewise Peter Francis James (who has been in this series before, but also well known for Oz and a reoccurring character in the Law & Order series) doesn't have a great deal to do.
Still an interesting film in the way it extends the words, but it doesn't really manage to turn it into a narrative or performance that sticks or really engages.