Netflix - The Dig

[mrwalkensir]

A few minor issues eg Carey Mulligan 20 years too young, Peggy Piggott actually already being a very capable archaeologist...but otherwise just wonderful. And a fictional character presumably just in tribute to Detectorists' beautiful theme tune. Might have to watch again...

I enjoyed the film and was inspired to get on Google and find out the real story. That didn't spoil my enjoyment of the film at all.

Apparently Nicole kidman was who was meant to be cast, so right age but exactly 'sturdy'. I say thank heavens fo CM I thought she was excellent. It was a drama rather than a documentary so I can live with the age discrepancies etc

Oh I'm glad NK was kept away from it.

I do think it is weird, especially in this day and age, the way they have chosen to portray Peggy Piggott.
Even if she were a minor historical character about whom there was no recorded evidence, I would still be a bit hmmm about the depiction, but that is not the case at all.
She was a very capable, astute, intelligent archaeologist about whom a lot is known, and there are plenty of people still around who knew her. My dad met her a couple of times and said she was very knowledgeable.
Why would you deliberately choose to dumb down a woman's role and personality in a film in 2021?

Why would you deliberately choose to dumb down a woman's role and personality in a film in 2021? That isn't how I interpreted it. I saw her as a capable, astute and intelligent archaeologist who was sidelined by the men she was working with. The man from the museum openly belittled her when she arrived.

The Carey Mulligan casting is a little jarring, it's not like she's in her early 40s even, she's 35 (and to my mind has quite a young looking face for her actual age). Surely there were other women in their 40s upwards who would have been a better fit for the role? Ralph Fiennes seems a much more age sensitive casting in the male lead.

I didn't know much about Edith Pretty, when I saw the trailer before Christmas I assumed she was meant to be a young early 30s widow, I then read up a bit about it and was surprised to see she was actually mid-fifties.

We watched it last night and loved it. Was somewhat surprised to see that Robert was supposed to have cycled 28 miles from Sutton Hoo to Diss!

They couldn't dig the ship up/out as it's an imprint/ghost of the original wood I think?

@mrwalkensir

They couldn't dig the ship up/out as it's an imprint/ghost of the original wood I think?

That's right. The actual ship no longer exists, but the imprint of it does.

The way they wove this into the story of Edith dying was lovely. The returning themes of loss and uncovering the past were subtly exposed as the film went on.

I really enjoyed it.

If she was meant to be mid fifties how old was her little boy meant to be? I thought she looked the right age to be his mum.

The real Edith had her son at 47. She didn't marry until she was 43, after the deaths of her parents.

It's quite sad really, she loses her parents, inherits a fortune, finally gets married, has a baby at an age that even now would be considered late, 4 years after that her husband dies, and then she herself becomes ill, leaving her son an orphan at 12.

Oh bloody hell that's awful. I thought Carey Mulligan was wonderful though, and did well at playing older than her age.

We loved the film. We're about an hour away from Sutton Hoo but have never been. We've already said when thing get back to "normal" we will go and then make a visit to the British Museum to see the actual treasures.

It was like a giant advert for Suffolk, the scenery was just beautiful. But yes I'm not a fan of them casting Carey Mulligan in a role 20 years older than herself and I was ranting at DH about the costumes they put Lily James in - those short skirts/dresses would have been considered indecent in 1939!

Dh and I Enjoyed his very much.

I enjoyed it but every character has their own 'cross to bear' which meant it was quite maudlin. Definitely not the light hearted escape I'd hoped it to be. This isn't a criticism of the film exactly, more a gentle warning about what mood you're aiming for. I was hoping for something escapist and light during lockdown and this (although a really good film) l, wasn't it.

Also, there was no reason to cast such a young actress to play the Edith Pretty role.

@JackSparrowsTribute

I enjoyed it but every character has their own 'cross to bear' which meant it was quite maudlin. Definitely not the light hearted escape I'd hoped it to be. This isn't a criticism of the film exactly, more a gentle warning about what mood you're aiming for. I was hoping for something escapist and light during lockdown and this (although a really good film) l, wasn't it.

Also, there was no reason to cast such a young actress to play the Edith Pretty role.

I agree it is quite maudlin. I had a little cry at the end with the outbreak of war being announced and seeing the people so worried - you could feel the impending doom knowing what was to come.

The young actor playing Edith’s son made me well up too when he was raging about losing his dad and now his mum was sick.

Ben Chaplin played Lily James father in Cinderella in 2015. Lily was Cinderella.

FF 6 years, and they play a married couple in this. I’m getting really sick of this happening.

I thought the film was great, though, so interesting. Even my husband who has zero attention span watched and enjoyed it.

IIRC they re-excavated the ship in the 60s. Then having learned all they could from it dug down to learn what was below - as it was just an imprint in the soil, the wood having long since eroded, it effectively destroyed the ship.

As for the scene of Mrs Pretty lying in the boat, I'm guessing that was simply to convey the size of the boat and the position of the grave within it.

I loved this and totally forgive all the straying from real life. No one love story or life story or historical fact took precedent, just merged into a watchable whole.

Of course had to google the Pretty family and the husband died in his early 50s and his son died at a similar age of cancer. Really quite sad, as the mother also died relatively young.

Oh, and the husband loved her so much, he waited about 18 years for her as she was looking after elderly father, and the boy was born when she was around 46. Then her husband died.