When it became known about the BBC’s decision to film the difficult novel “A Child in Time,” written in 1987 by recognized classic contemporary of British literature Ian McEwan, public interest in one of the writer’s early literary opuses increased again. The 2017 TV movie The Child in Time, with all the cinematic ruthlessness, exposed all the changes that have occurred in society over the past time.
Undeniable achievement
One of the indisputable advantages of the new TV show “Child in Time” was the deepest psychologism expressed by film critics, expressed in painstaking verbal transmission of successive emotional states of characters, testifying not only to experiencing grief, but also to its gradual acceptance. An attempt to find a compromise between feelings tearing the souls of heroes of the heroes, subsequent humility and hope is a successful author's find by the director Julian Farino, expressed in a detailed demonstration of the change in the flow of these feelings and allowing the beholder to penetrate the mysteries of the soul of the central characters. And, being competently woven by the screenwriter Stephen Butchard into the original narrative, the experiences of the heroes become a kind of chronicle of their spiritual impulses, skillfully implanted into the wider context of the plot. It is not surprising that the genre of the film “A Child in Time” (2017) is designated as drama.
Literary source
McEwan's insightful book was written in the 80s, in the light of Margaret Thatcher's reforms and their irreversible consequences. In the situational and ideological atmosphere depicted by the author on the pages of his novel, one can feel the spirit of that chaotic time, its inevitable run, introducing the layman into a stupor. Each individual individually, not having time to keep up with what is happening, is not able to comprehend it. Therefore, she experiences unaccountable fear and loneliness.
A film adaptation, shot 30 years later, when it is time to comprehend a new round in the development of society, and the processes that accompany a new transformation, can all emphasize the timeless relevance of McEwan's work and reveal its new depths. This is exactly the idea that the contributing authors announce after watching the drama “A Child in Time”. Reviews and reviews published by various artists are in agreement on this issue.
Short storyline
The popular and sought-after writer of children's prose, Stephen Lewis (actor Benedict Cumberbatch), unexpectedly disappears four-year-old baby daughter. Two years after the tragedy. Desperate to find the child, the writer tries to come to terms with what happened and try to live on his own, as his wife Julia (Kelly MacDonald) left him, and friends Charles (Stephen Campbell Moore) and his wife Thelma (Saskia Reeves) are unable to cope with their own problems .
Film flaws
The reviews of the film “A Child in Time” (2017), written in a more meticulous manner, indicate that the directorial project of Julian Farino on the screenplay by Stephen Butchard, who took as a basis the strong emotions of the heroes of the 80s and risked to transfer them to the modern soil, deprived of what is happening drama. The picture came out pretty and sad, but no more. The arguments to prove their verdict are criticized by the following: in a modern world saturated with apocalyptic scenarios for the development of further events and catastrophic sensations that change each other at a frantic speed, there is no room for existential crises and human tragedies. They paint the ordinary routine in such gloomy tones that the tragedy of the direct participants in the drama is not able to absorb them completely, to capture them whole. Now the process of experiencing tragedy and crisis is being hindered by the ongoing trills of mobile phones and a fierce discussion of the tragedy of two unfortunate people on social networks. In grief, time stops, but then after a short pause it does not continue, but starts from scratch. In any case, a change in the time period and a reliable image of what the tragedy of the main characters would look like today does not relieve the authors of the picture of responsibility for the expressiveness of the depicted.
Leading actors
As noted by the reviews of the film “A Child in Time” (2017), for Benedict Cumberbatch, the project of Julian Farino became the second contact with the work of Ian McEwan. Ten years ago, the film “Atonement” based on the literary work of the same name was released, where the performer played a small but vivid role. The famous performer coped with it brilliantly - in addition to disgust, his character Paul did not cause other emotions in the viewer. In the new movie masterpiece, Benedict also brilliantly coped with his role, realizing the tasks set by the creators. True, as the audience’s reviews of the film “A Child in Time” accurately note, in almost every scene with the actor’s participation, references to his previous roles slip on and off, which is frankly confusing.
Actress Kelly MacDonald, who turned into Stephen's lover, heartbroken from the disappearance of her daughter, is sometimes overly restrained, and is too replayed in other scenes. But the flaws of the acting are almost invisible in the context of the relationship of the spouses, who at the moment lost their link.
Minor Characters
According to reviews of the film “A Child in Time,” the audience was greatly struck and outraged by the nullification of the character of Thelma, the wife of the protagonist’s best friend. According to the book, she managed to discover a crushed Lewis new meaning of existence, to pick up arguments that reconciled the hero with the irrevocability of loss, placing it out of time. But in the movie, Thelma performs only the functions of the nanny of Charles's husband, who had fallen into childhood.
With all due respect to the performing skills of Stephen Campbell Moore, who reincarnated as Charles, one cannot but express regret at the one-dimensionality of his character. The image created by the actor is depressing. This is not even about the professionalism of the performer, Stephen is moving very well, making karkalomny somersaults, which fit to envy any teenager. It's just that the state of his hero is many times deeper than fooling around or escapism.
For answers - to the source
Now that the craze for products from the Marvel universe has reached its climax and millions of fans are completely absorbed in watching the creation of the next part of the epic about superheroes of all stripes, lovers of thoughtful films and iconic adaptations can breathe a sigh of relief. A child in time appeared. Reviews of the film emphasize that without reading the novel, the essence of the film is almost impossible to understand. It is not surprising that after the premiere in all social networks there were heated discussions and perplexing comments about what he saw. However, if a film adaptation encourages viewers to look for answers in a literary source, is this the highest praise of the book?