Of all the film critics in all the world, I’m the only one who has to bow out of too much review – as opposed to personal story – simply because (and now and then this happens in real life) I was the girlfriend who lived with the screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) while he wrote this film. And…while he watched and edited, night after night, the rough cuts after it was being shot. From our livingroom.
The rough cuts lacked soundtrack and the syrupy-sweet score that would come together so audience-pleasing in the finished product – thanks to Lasse Hallstrom’s direction, and his history with such films as Chocolat.
The finished film begins, just as I remember, with a very “saucy” Emily Blunt tapping away on her computer a letter to “Dear Dr Jones…”except now she was accompanied by flawless lighting and whimsical feel-good soundtrack. And the camera, thank GOD, was now showing the face of the Press Secretary, Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas) when she
first enters the room as opposed to her talking without her on the screen(as was an issue in the second, or was it the third
rough cut.) ‘He’s got to put the bloody camera on her face!”- Simon Beaufoy.
Scott Thomas, btw, is brilliant in her role and I told her so at a Christmas party this past winter. She is the best thing in the film, bringing a seasoned easy acting performance that comes off so effortlessly but earnest. And hilarious. She was always Simon’s first choice for the role.
The stories premise remains the same…The idea is to irrigate the dry hot sands – thousands of acres of land – and trap 10,000 salmon from England, transport them into the Yemen, blah, blah, blah and teach them to migrate upstream. It will cost millions of dollars, and that’s what makes the film a rare and precious thing. Blunt is the PR rep for a Yemen Shiek’s intentions while Ewan McGregor portrays a fisheries expert who thinks she’s insane. He goes along with the project anyway, and of course you see exactly where this is headed. Their love story mirrors that of the ludicrous fish affair.
This movie is about love, hope and making the impossible possible. And how do I know that? Because the screenwriter told me. From the safety of our terry robes, on our camel-colored sofa. And I told the Screenwriter a few lines and ideas that have made their way onto the screen and not in the original script.
A mature adult romantic comedy rich in original geography and politics, dispelling the myth that Arabs aren’t so bad – as seen through the tender eyes and nonsense-Dalai-Lama-advice of a Sheik (Amr Waked.) And the subplot of romance between Blunt and McGregor where the two spend close to two hours flirting, suggesting, and denying each other, as only Brits know how to do. Just ask Simon….Three tiaras (out of four) for its good intentions. And his.