In September 2017, the UK premiered the new television show The Child in Time, a product of the BBC One channel. The main roles in the drama were played by 41-year-old Benedict Cumberbatch and his peer Kelly MacDonald. The film “A Child in Time” was created based on the novel of the same name in 1987, released from the pen of one of the most famous British contemporary writers, Ian McEwan. The story is focused on the experiences and existence of a child writer after the loss of a three-year-old daughter. The literary opus was published in 1987. Its premiere was marked by a mass of laudatory reviews from literary critics and readers. The novel received the authoritative Whitbread Prize.
Kinometamorphosis
The TV movie "Child in Time" received not so enthusiastic reviews as expected, its IMDb rating: 6.10. The fact is that smart, subtle, deepest psychological prose lost a lot during the transfer to the cinema format. Moreover, blaming the script writer Stephen Butchard for poor-quality adaptation is even inconvenient. It is clear to everyone that it is impossible to fit all the multi-layered meanings and plot branches of the literary source in full into the timing of a tape of 90 minutes in length. Scriptwriters, of course, had to sacrifice a lot. But according to critics in the reviews of “A Child in Time” (2017), the main disadvantage of adaptation is the impossibility of applying the epithet “intellectual” to the film adaptation. At the exit, the viewer receives the usual melodrama, high-quality, beautiful, but one-dimensional.
Compared to Hollywood Product
For merciless criticism of the film “A Child in Time” (2017), it is doubly disappointing, the tape was shot extremely professionally, in an exemplary European manner, which compares it favorably with Hollywood counterparts. The key character is a heartbroken father who has lost his baby daughter. I immediately recall the picture “The Captive” (2013) with Ryan Reynolds, who for eight years did not stop searching for his missing daughter, and “Phantom Beauty” (2016) with Will Smith. But Americans manage to turn such pictures into tearful melodramas, the creators of which literally lose their sense of proportion. The narrative is crammed with pathos banalities, the suffering is too glossy, the experiences are exemplary. The British in "A Child in Time" is more and more ascetic, without special pathos, which touches much more.
Time contrast
The main drawback of the drama “A Child in Time” (2017), reviews of critics outlined the difference in the time period of the events described in the literary original and demonstrated in the teleadaptation. Scenic editing by Stephen Butchard and the directorial work of Julian Farino took as a basis the emotional experiences of the characters of the 80s, transferring the story to the soil of modernity. This deprived what is happening of the main share of drama. Sad and pretty, but almost unreliable. In our chaotic modernity, crammed with sensationalism and succeeding apocalyptic scenarios, there is practically no room for existential crises and personal tragedies. They concern only the direct participants in the tragedy, not taking others seriously, without painting their gray everyday life in even darker tones. Therefore, the reviews on “The Child in Time” (2017) state that the authors of the television version became hostages of the time, the essence of which was so surprisingly accurately presented by the writer. Only therefore, the creators could not convey the intensity of feelings present in the novel, they transferred the events at the present time, without having worked out the plot in detail.
Leading actors
In contrast to the efforts of the creators, the performers involved in the project received praise from critics and the audience. Reviews “A child in time” (2017) is praised for the wonderful acting ensemble. The main roles were played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who successfully manages to combine participation in large blockbusters and much more modest budget films ("The Imitation Game", "Sherlock", "Doctor Strange") and Kelly Macdonald ("Old Men Don't Have a Place", " On the needle ”,“ Anna Karenina ”).
It was not difficult for Cumberbatch to imagine and play the state of his father's murdered grief, because he is raising two sons with his wife, director Sophie Hunter. By the way, very soon another project with the participation of the performer will be released - the biopic “Current War” on the conflict between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison. The film was produced by Timur Bekmambetov.
Kelly MacDonald, who embodied on the screen the wife of the protagonist, suppressed by the loss of a child, is sometimes too restrained, sometimes openly replaying. But her flaws are almost invisible in the context of the relationship of the spouses, who in an instant have lost their connecting link.
In addition to these actors, Steven Campbell Moore (“Time of the Witches”, “Robbery on Baker Street”, Saskia Reeves (“Luther”, “Air Kiss”, “Close My Eyes”), John Hopkins (“Alice in Wonderland "," Merlin ") and many others.
Recommend to view
Analyzing the reviews on “The Child in Time” (2017), you are convinced that this film has a right to exist. He takes for the soul, encourages empathy with the heroes, and the final inspires hope. Life goes on no matter what. Nevertheless, it is wrong to make the same demands on the film adaptations as for literary novels.