Think Sunday, think 9 pm, think BBC 1. For that is where director Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man) and first-time screenwriter Alex von Tunzelmann’s pedestrian film belongs. Not at the Herr Flicks, not even on DVD, but just after Songs of Praise, Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow. Though, if the snooker was on BBC 2, I’d swap the green baize for this beige biography of Winston Churchill (Brian Cox) any day.

The main problem is that there is a distinct lack of dramatic tension. Everyone from Eisenhower (John Slattery), Montgomery (Julian Wadham), King George VI (James Purefoy) and even his wife Clementine (Miranda Richardson) are against Win by name win by nature’s repeated request to cancel the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France (code name Operation Overlord) or at the very least split the advance. And even though Cox does a mighty fine job of nailing Churchill’s vocal and physical mannerisms (I’ll overlook the Scottish lilt), most of the scenes involve close-ups of him shouting at his detractors. Subtlety there is none.

Furthermore, in the first half of the film, Scottish composer Lorne Balfe’s (Ghost In The Shell) use of strings to underscore David Higgs’ striking cinematography initially works in highlighting Churchill’s increasing alienation; but the more it is repeated, the more obtrusive and less powerful it becomes. A similar criticism I could make of the British historian and author Alex von Tunzelmann’s flowery dialogue which is justified during Churchill’s soliloquies but elevates every grunt and aside to unnecessary Shakespearean heights.

Cox was born to play Churchill and succeeds; it’s just a pity that the dominant emotion he is asked to portray is anger rather than the “doubt, dithering and treachery” alluded to by one of his critics. And Miranda Richardson gives a fine performance as his long-suffering wife; the others do the best with the hand they’re dealt, but a five and ten pontoon does not make. It’s just a pity that the screenplay matches Churchill’s withering description of his perceived ineffectuality: “a clapped-out, moth-eaten old lion whose teeth have been pulled so as not to frighten the ladies.”

Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Writer: Alex von Tunzelmann
Stars: Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery

 

Peter Callaghan
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