One Day - [FILM]
Where do I start? I was willing to look past Hathaways on-again-off-again Emmerdale accent and the snippets found in the actual book; it’s just the cheesy production. Scene: Woman looking profound in writing room. Light unrealistically sweeps in. Epitome of life realized. I think the reason this film doesn’t work well isn’t a fault to the actors, they did a good job with a bad film, but that the film makers did an awful job of a great novel.
David Nicholls, author of One Day the novel was dubbed ‘the man that made Britain cry’, so why then, does this version very much pale in comparison? Well, it’s over-romanticised. In the novel they’re not on a roof when Emma hears about the wedding, their outside a country-house maze, and the holiday scene was a lot more intimate and a lot less ‘Love, Eat, Pray’. Is this due to a non-English director? That might sound extreme to say but one reason this worked as a novel was the individual characters ‘Englishness’ the peculiars, the nooks and cranny’s of Dex and Em, and though Scherfig is praised for her characterisation I feel she failed to capture the pearl of this couple.
Enjoyable to see characters I’ve loved to much, and I was glad I’d already heard it didn’t do the book justice so to break my fall, but if you’re an avid fan and don’t want to be dissapointed, do not watch this film. If you’re just looking for a good film and have no intention on reading the book, firstly, shame on you the book’s amazing, secondly, go for it.
