Olivia Coleman + Jessie Buckley in wicked little letters

[ClaraLaraBow]

20 minutes in and enjoying it!

Interesting article from the local archives:

https://westsussexrecordofficeblog.com/2024/02/20/what-happened-in-littlehampton-in-the-1920s/#more-10985

Info on Gladys Moss - who was a bit of a trailblazer:

www.sussexexpress.co.uk/sport/nostalgia/trail-blazing-gladys-became-first-wpc-in-sussex-2220501

Yes I have seen it. Do you honestly think that portraying Edith's father as a cruel abuser is right and fair? Do you honestly think making a comedy about Edith's mental illness is right and fair? it is an awful, immoral thing to do

No, do I have to be related to someone not to think their mental illness is fair game for "comedy" writers?

He is portrayed as cruel and abusive. Men were not typically cruel and abusive at that time, so how is portraying him like that "of his time"?

Are you she, back from the dead?

I saw this at the cinema. Excellent film. Very entertaining.

I'm always interested to heat an alternate point of view. But it doesn't take away from the excellent performances.

I disagree completely.

His behavior was cruel but it was clear that he was struggling and out of control. The role of a male, the influence of the war, influence of religion, the preoccupation with reputation was overwhelming him.

Edith’s mental illness was portrayed sensitively, the viewer was left feeling sympathy for her because we could understand where it came from.

As someone who has spent a lot of time with very close hand experience of mental health, it’s not always doom and gloom, sometimes people behave in weird and amusing ways because of it. I think that the film achieves the balance really well.

I hated it. Saw it at the cinema and it it's the worst sort of smug middle class lovey bollocks.
The story is great. The policewoman deserves recognition at a time when women weren't equals. Rude, sweary women from times past is an unheard off subject. Yet this fails to do anything but be twee.

I completely disagree

She was not mentally ill. She was filled with completely understandable rage at having to be pure/pious/having her fiancée sent away/living under an unbearable bullying misogynistic father

NOT mentally ill, understandable fury.

A world with no suffrage, no power, whose only worth was pretending to be moral.

The genuine moments of feeling in the film were her deep envy at who Rose got to be, free. And her friendship with her, where she got to be a tiny bit unguarded.

What IS hideously sexist and of its time is the bit not portrayed in the film is that she was committed to an asylum because of course she HAD to be unwell for the rest of her life

Was she fuck, it's how a normal person would react when they had no power

Silly little letters, full of swear words she wanted to say but couldn't

A brilliant portrayal of someone not unwell and a finely nuanced performance.

Perfectly put.

Somebody on this thread hasn't heard of artistic licence. It's not a documentary.

That's astute, the only way Edith, a spinster living with her parents could gain status in 1920s (?) was to virtue signal her piety.

Oh right, I though maybe you were a descendant of the family and had heard a different version (which would have been interesting).

I decided to give it a miss, given the subject matter.

I wouldn't call it a 'comedy' taking the piss out of mental illness.

You can see Edith taking agency over her powerlessness and fighting back against oppression/patriarchy the only way she think of.

Yes, she was wrong in letting Rose take the blame but like she says at the end 'I wish it wasn't you' - and 'I just wanted a friend'. It was more like a snowball she couldn't stop because she was frightened.

Rose forgives her.

I hadn't realised it was based on a true story from the coastal town I lived in for six years.

I love Jessie Buckley but thought it was unbearably twee to the point of being unwatchable. I was just waiting for one of the letters to call her a cockwomble.

The swearing did put my teeth on edge a bit. It was constant!

we really enjoyed it. it was based on a true story. but not a documentary.
felt so sorry for the 2 main characters.