A Rather English Marriage DVD with Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay, Joanna Lumley (NR) +Movie Reviews

The classiest TV movie in years.

markjamestaylor@hotmail.com | the United Kingdom. | 11/16/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's easy to see why this movie won several TV British Academy Awards (BAFTAs). The acting is superb from all the actors (even down to the bit players), the music is superb, and the writing and direction are first-rate. The ending is also the best in any movie I have ever seen, and comes round too soon. For me, the story is about the relationship between two heterosexual men following the death of their wives - and how they both come to terms with their bereavement. Tom Courtney's Southgate (which won him the Best Actor BAFTA award) grieves immediately after his wife dies. However, Albert Finney's multi-layered Sgt.Major (also nominated for the Best Actor BAFTA) takes longer to come to terms with his life and loss. If you want to see the Best of British, this movie is one of those surprising little gems that only come around so often."

A little gem of a film

MegaMegaWhiteThing! | Brooklyn, NY | 07/19/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A story of two RAF World War II veterans who lost their wives in the same hospital on the same day, the film hatches into a work of reminiscence, mourning, moving on, deceit, and edges into a seemingly teasing plot of "what goes around comes around." Womanizing Squadron Leader Reggie invites the prudish and submissive Southgate to take over domestic duties and become a companion at the encouragement of a very sweet social worker. Whether dealing with the golddigging Joanna Lumley (remember Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous?) or coming to terms with a son's misery in prison, this film, while having low points, ends in a sweet, cheerful, and innocent manner. I definitely recommend it, and to think, I just found it by accident on a library shelf."

An Excellent Movie

Mark Antony | 12/28/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A Rather English Marriage was truly one of the best movies that I have seen in a while. Joanna Lumley is terrific as Liz and is absolutely effervescent. Without giving the entire story away, the plot was basically about 2 older men who come together after their wives die. Then a woman comes into the life of Sgt. Major and her motives are questioned. Not that the ending was disappointing, but I was just personally disappointed because the ending wasn't as , well...happy as it could have been. Oh well, C'est La Vie!"

Another brilliant Andrew Davies adaptation

meg | santa monica, california | 02/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Shown on Masterpiece Theatre (during the Russell Baker years), this reunites two spectacularly fine actors of British cinema's "angry young man" era. The virile Albert Finney of Saturday Night & Sunday Morning, and the subtle Tom Courtenay of Billy Liar or The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, may come to mind again as you watch them in this twilight story of two widowers learning to live without their wives of forty years.

Finney plays something of a lion in winter, a self-approving type who still expects people to address him as Squadron Leader. Courtenay plays a gentler sort, whose cherished memories of the war years are related rather to the love affair with his wife than glory past. The characters here may remind you also of roles the actors played in their middle years in The Dresser -- Finney's vainglorious Shakespearean attended by Courtenay as his backstage dresser. The script and the acting in this humorous, human drama actually teach us things -- about love and friendship, about regret and grief, about old age, about companionship and dignity, about the poignant sweetness of an old Glenn Miller song. Beautiful."

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