Carrington (1995)

Life among the Bloomsbury group in post-Victorian England, as seen through the relationship between writer Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce in a well-wrought, if mannered performance) and painter Dora Carrington (Emma Thompson). Carrington won't give herself to any of the men in her life (including her husband)--at least not emotionally. Instead, this woman has found her soulmate in Strachey, a homosexual who, in fact, has a crush on Carrington's husband. They try to maintain a friendship outside their various romantic liaisons but keep winding up with each other. Still, despite an intriguing performance by Pryce and a cooler, less accessible one by Thompson, this film never quite takes off. Once you get the point--that this is a love that will never be consummated--you begin to wonder if, in fact, there is a larger point to be had. There isn't. --Marshall Fine Amazon.com

Truly, Madly, Deeply

If you've ever been in love with someone, who, for whatever reason can't absolutely return your feelings, you will sympathize with Emma Thompson as Carrington. Both delicately and passionately told, the love between Dora and Lytton Strachey is told in sections, titled with the names of other lovers and the houses they all live in. Although the subject matter includes pre-and extra-marital affairs as well as early twentieth-century British homosexuality (much different than American), this film has a sweet innocence to it that is entirely due to both Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce.

It's not for every Emma Thompson fan, but it is a wonderful movie about love. October 16, 2008

Painful

My aunt made me watch this horrible movie during a visit. It may have caused permanent brain damage. At the movie's midpoint I declared, "I hope everyone dies tragic, pain filled deaths". One of the only good things about this movie is that my wish was granted. October 14, 2008

Adrift in a French farce without a sense of humor

This film, "Carrington," displays just about all the virtues and faults of the Merchant-Ivory/Masterpiece Theater genre. It is very earnest, very well acted and very pretty to look upon. It's sometimes quite intelligent. It is also very self-satisfied, very slow and very lacking in humor. It's sometimes very dull, too.

The virtues are just that, virtues. Cumulatively, they build up a lot of credit for this film. The faults, depending on a viewer's personal values, may be regarded as lying somewhere on a scale ranging from irrelevant to fatal. I lean to one extreme. My wife leans to the other.

It might even be argued that the self-satisfaction, the humorlessness are neither more nor less than accurate depictions of Dora Carrington, Lytton Strachey and that whole self-absorbed, sexually-perplexed, navel-gazing crowd of twits at Bloomsbury.

I prefer to regard the director-writer, the actors and the whole production as hopelessly gullible in taking their real life protagonists at their own value. The Woolfs, the Bells, Strachey and Carrington herself would, if given half a chance, express themselves as characters in a drama of high-flown aspirations and tragic consequences. I, on the other hand, tend to view them as puppets in a French farce, albeit one written by D. H. Lawrence.

This film, its settings, its characters and its mind-set bear only the most tenuous connection with the real, tangible world. As W.S. Gilbert might have put it, the film and all those in it yearn for Elysian fields, but ignore the fact that they "can't get'em and would only let'em out on building leases" if they had'em. "Carrington" would be well served by the presence of just such a character as Fitzgerald threw in to add a spice of reality to the slow-simmering gumbo of Gatsby and Daisy and Tom: Nick, the narrator, doubter and conscience--a pallid character, yes, but still a whiff of the tax paying, traffic light-bound workaday world.

As a film, "Carrington" is easy on the eye. Its story is interesting enough, although I can't imagine being drawn back to watch it of my own volition again at any time in the foreseeable future. But even as I question the worth of making the film, I can't deny the high level of skill lavished on it.

I think "Carrington" is a film worth seeing--once. That's good enough for four stars as far as I'm concerned. September 3, 2007

Well written and well acted.

This is a beautifully morose story of painter Dora Carrington; her work, her life, and the love of her life, author Lytton Strachey, who also happens to be homosexual. It is set in World War One England, and it looks as though the film itself could be a work of art. Carrington is full of saturated green landscapes and poetic dialog. Though a bit of a "downer", still worth a box of Kleenex and a month's prescription of Prozac. April 4, 2007

A surprising look inside the nature of Love

'Carrington' belongs to the category of films that are obscure and eccentric, released in small art houses and that most people have never heard of. What a pity. This film presents an alternative twist on the theme of love, interweaving the ever-changing and amorphous desires of people and giving an honest portrayal of the ambiguous sexuality many people feel.

Jonathan Pryce and Emma Thompson team up in an on-screen romance that is both tragic and fulfilling. Lytton Strachey, cold, wise, and homosexual meets promising painter Dora Carrington. She insists on being called by her surname and is even mistaken for a boy by Lytton when he first sees her. Carrington is still a virgin and repels advances by men all the time, and it's driving her boyfriend Mark insane. In desperation, Mark begs that Lytton "work on her a bit". The relationship between Carrington and Lytton is untainted by lust, something Carrington has always objected to. She denies Mark sex because she fears that he will become only sexually interested in her.

Carrington, however, falls undeniably in love with Lytton, which is a slight inconvience considering the fact that he is gay. Still, they begin living together and spend some of the happiest years of their life. A touching moment occurs when Lytton asks Carrington, "Why are you so good to me?" and she replies by showing him the pen wiper which has the words "Use Me" on it. But alas, it must end in tragedy. The parting shot (and sound) of the film is so poignant that it left tears in my eyes.

Emma Thompson carries this film entirely on her shoulders. If not for her performance, this film would not be half as enjoyable. Just watching this woman in front of the camera is absolutely fascinating. Combine that with the idiosyncratic Jonathan Pryce and a wonderful supporting cast and the mixture is very much appropriately off-beat and quirky.

Definitely recommended and a must-see for Emma thompson fans. March 12, 2006

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