Film review - Ethel and Ernest (2016) - United Kingdom

Figure 1. Movie poster

Ethel and Ernest is film about a lady called Ethel and a man called Ernest who fall in love. The film starts showing Ethel working as a lady's maid who sees Ernest ride past on his bicycle everyday, each morning they start to wave to each other until one day Ernest knocks on the door and offers Ethel flowers, asking her whether she would go on a date with him to the cinema. The film then continues to show their life together and how they cope living throughout World War 2 in the United Kingdom. The film also shows the ups and downs in their life, from having a son to Ethel and Ernest eventually dying. 

Figure 2. Ethel and Ernest's date

The film had been created from one of Raymond Briggs' illustrative books which talks about the life of his Mother and Father and how he came to where he is today. Raymond Briggs is a popular illustrator who created the illustrations for The Snowman (1982) and Father Christmas (1973). Roger Mainwood took on the role of adapting the boook in order to create the film, he did so successfully, showing the style and quality of Briggs' work, 'Mainwood faithfully reproduces the colours and textures of Briggs’s book – the faded quality of the greens and browns, quaintly suggestive of a make-do-and-mend mentality that couldn’t afford brighter hues.' (Robey, 2016)

Figure 3. Ethel meeting Raymond's girlfriend

The film not only shows how the times started to change the older Ethel and Ernest got, it was also very realistic in showing how Ethel and Ernest made a living and what they did in order to survive. The film shows Ernest having a job as a milkman and doing his rounds, while Ethel quit her job as a lady's maid in order to get married and was able to work in the in the army offices during the war. Once Ethel and Ernest had also bought a house together, it slowly showed them renovating it and buying second hand furniture. The film also speaks about issues among a family that not every film would be interested in showing, for example, when Raymond is brought home by the police after breaking into a golf club and when the audience realise that Ethel is showing signs of Alzheimers. 'We seem always to be leading up to a big emotional event.' (Bradshaw, 2016)



Bibliography:

Bradshaw, P. (2016). Ethel & Ernest review – moving adaptation of Raymond Briggs's graphic novel. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/27/ethel-ernest-review-moving-adaptation-of-raymond-briggss-graphic-novel [Accessed 14 Feb. 2019].

Robey, T. (2016). Ethel & Ernest review: Raymond Briggs honors his parents with slow-drip poignancy. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/ethel--ernest-review-raymond-briggs-honors-his-parents-with-slow/ [Accessed 14 Feb. 2019].


Illustrations list:

Figure 1. Movie poster (2016) http://all-allam.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/ethel-and-ernest-roger-allam.jpg 

Figure 2. Ethel and Ernest's date (2016) https://www.awn.com/news/ethel-ernest-director-roger-mainwood-dies-65

Figure 3. Ethel meeting Raymond's girlfriend (2016) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3907080/Christmas-s-TV-hit-Snowman-author-RAYMOND-BRIGGS-moving-tale-parents-marriage.html