MovieChat Forums > Summer in February (2014) Discussion > Bad/Boring story . . . too bad Life is f...

Bad/Boring story . . . too bad Life is filled with needless drama

posted 10 years ago by calbruin2
7 replies | jump to latest

Some seem to complaint about how dull the movie is. Criticize the acting or production for whatever reason, but the story is what we are stuck given.

Ever heard of A J Munnings? Neither had I before seeing this movie. Munnings is not famous, despite some people seem fit to make a movie about him and those in his life. Or rather the drama created by his selfishness to steal the love from his ex-best friend.

But I do not blame AJ Munnings so much. An arse does what arse does.

What I find terrible is the choice Florence makes in agreeing to marrying him. Reason being, AJ Munnings (is/will be) famous. According to the movie, there was never any genuine love between her and him.

Once again, in real life this time, the lesson of Catherine (from "Wuthering Heights) and Bathsheba (from "Far From the Maddening Crowd") were not learned -- why, oh why do women choose to bed-down or marry the very men they do not love?

If Florence was true to her heart and mind, then could have avoided all this needless drama.

Post-death fame? Florence, if she were a genuine good artist, likewise can be said of this AJ Munnings, then we would be interested in their craft, artistry, and personal life real famous artists like Monet, Van Gogh, or Rembrandt just because of who they are and what they had done.

Florence's impact on the art world was less than Carrington's.

[–] cd-smith-431-637715 10 years ago

I disagree. The film was well made with much of the cinematography referencing many if the important British artists of the early 1900s, including Munnings - who, by the way, is well known to anybody interested in British art. His character is portrayed a little harshly and I'd be interested to know how much was based on primary accounts rather than dramatic conjecture. I'm not sure how your comment about 'real famous artists', if that can even be quantified (I'm certain there are some who haven't heard of Rembrandt believe it or not), constitutes a valid argument against the film itself.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Nomad310 10 years ago

If these people had been of interest, one wouldn't know it from this film. Good photography, interesting locations and period clothing aside, this was a badly written story in which very little of interest occurs.

[–] kavan30013 10 years ago

Evans got married and had two sons, I believe. One of the sons discovered the diary that led to the novel the film is based on. The novel has a lot of details and is far better developed than the film-I highly recommend reading it.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (41638798) 10 years ago

Glad to know the book was good.

About half-way through this beautifully shot film, I was thinking that as thin on the ground as the story and characterizations were, there must be something in the book that fills in the blanks left by the film's shortcomings.

I never understood Florence at all. She was like an outline we were supposed to color in?

It's clear at the beginning when she comes to Joey in his cottage that she was not supposed to be leaving London and her dad, and the fellow her dad wanted her to marry. So fair enough.

But then she has a bottle of cyanide (??!) on the dressing table in her hotel room above the room where her wedding reception is taking place? What?

I do have a very very vague remembrance that this substance might have been used as a topical solution to put on the face to create a better complexion, so that might explain it being handy. But I'd need to research that--it's only a vague memory that went through my mind in that scene.

At least that would explain the bizarre substance being at hand, if not the reason she did what she did with it.

And because her husband of an hour brags in his wedding speech about the painting he has of her on exhibit that should be seen by the wedding guests--the one she wanted taken down because it sat with paintings of "his other women" --she drinks the cyanide?

What the hell?

She knew the painting was up before the wedding--he refused to take it down before the wedding. Yet she then goes through with the wedding, he tells the guests how much he likes the painting there. So she gets up from the table goes upstairs and drinks cyanide from a pretty little bottle she has?

The whole thing made no sense, except to know she was very, very mentally ill and not stable. That, we get.

At that point, the denouement was obvious. She was going to do it again and succeed next time. She apparently always takes the opportunity to suck down cyanide first before trying to solve her issues sensibly and with the support system she has (i.e. rich father for one).

I think I really need to read the book. Because a great deal of the film was too sketchy to make sense--even for someone like me who does not like things spelled out and likes to fill in the blanks.

Problem is they didn't give us enough character understanding for us to fill in the plot hole blanks. It was hard to make guesses.

[–] tgclark2 10 years ago

Paradesend....I totally agree w/ your statement" I never understood Florence at all. She was like an outline we were supposed to color in?

I feel most of the characters in this boring movie were like this. I did not know them, feel for them (except a little for Gilbert) or even care. I had 30 mins left in the movie and was so bored, I could not tolerate another second. The cinematography was the ONLY AND BEST PART about it.

Did I really just sit through the torture of watching this???? Ugh.

[–] Rheli 8 years ago

What I find terrible is the choice Florence makes in agreeing to marrying him. Reason being, AJ Munnings (is/will be) famous. According to the movie, there was never any genuine love between her and him.

Apparently that was part of the attraction, it's not entirely clear. Probably there were other reasons. He's a vibrant, charismatic personality who probably excited her. She doesn't know herself well, doesn't know him well and doesn't take the time to get to know him better. She's also a bit of a prude -- coming from her father's attitudes I suppose -- and so gets too bothered about his previous conquests, which didn't actually have to bother her.