2020-04-01_Total_Film

CERTIFICATETBCDIRECTORMarcMundenSTARRINGDixieEgerickxColinFirthJulieWaltersEdanHayhurst

AmirWilsonSCREENPLAYJackThorneDISTRIBUTORStudioCanalRUNNINGTIMEminsTBC

Traditionalists will find some big

changes here, compared with

Agnieszka Holland’s reverential 1993

adaptation. Thankfully, they’re in tune

with the book’s themes, creating a

brave if not radical makeover, akin to

Greta Gerwig’s recent Little Women.

Like all good kids’ yarns, the film is

not afraid to put the frighteners on its

game little heroine. Relocated to the

1948 chaos of Partition, it finds

arrogant 10-year-old Mary (Dixie

Egerickx) terrifyingly alone on her

family’s Indian estate, after cholera

carries off the adults. Sent to her

uncle’s vast Misselthwaite Manor in

England and left to her own devices,

her discovery of a forbidden hidden

garden becomes the key to unlocking

similarly shrouded family secrets.

Director Marc Munden gets the

Gothic-lite tone of the book nicely,

injecting creepy (but child-friendly)

scares as Mary tracks nighttime wails

around the mansion’s shadowy

corridors. Full of murals of happier

times, the house is literally painted

with memories. They hint at the film’s

supernatural theme, as Mary’s snooping

awakens both her childhood memories

and the house’s lost mothers.

Dodging around Julie Walters’ sour,

strict housekeeper, and Colin Firth’s

angrily unhappy Lord Craven (both

playing interestingly against type), the

plot sees Mary’s stubborn sleuthing

banging up against adult repression.

R

ebooting venerable family classics is a

high-risk venture. There’s a lot of Twitter

love out there for Frances Hodgson Burnett’s

Edwardian plucky-orphan tale, and you mess

with it at your peril. Luckily for its fans, this classy,

CGI-sprinkled reimagining of Mary Lennox’s rejuvenating

Yorkshire adventures is a thoughtful revamp.

Alongside this tween-emo shade and

the emotionally haunted house, there’s

wholesome sunlit fun, however, as

Mary, sickly cousin Colin and local boy

Dickon discover the healing powers of

romping in the lavish secret garden.

FLOWERS OF YOUTH

Subtle but ravishing CGI makes tree

branches move obligingly for easy

climbing, while canopies of flowers

and ferns bloom and wilt in response to

the children’s emotions. Without going

full Jumanji, the FX add a charming

touch of magic realism. Since it’s a

gentle, emotion-centred tale, slightly

melancholy and short on action-

adventure, the fine child performances

are key in keeping the film on track.

Egerickx’s fiercely defiant Mary is the

standout, facing down everything from

adult insults to wild dogs, though Amir

Wilson’s pragmatic Dickon makes a

nice foil for Edan Hayhurst’s lonely and

fretful Colin. They create a beguiling

friendship, one that deals sensitively

with child guilt over adult tragedies.

Around them, the family-dysfunction

plot layers in themes like depression

and bereavement, contrasting the kids’

garden-nurtured courage with the adult

obsession and fear that dominates

Misselthwaite. The film takes a big risk,

though, when it inserts a newly invented

and danger-filled set-piece whose fiery

scares and supernatural solutions feel

quite sophisticated for younger children.

Jack Thorne’s script is peppered

with atmospheric childhood flashbacks

but any kid viewer who’s made it

through Harry Potter will manage fine.

True, the psychodrama of Lord Craven’s

paranoid parenting may prove more

grim than gripping to the tinies.

However, the film’s message of hope,

honesty and horticultural healing is

accessible to all ages. Kate Stables

THE VERDICT

Going for feels rather than thrills,

this is a handsome, haunting take

on the children’s classic.

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THE SECRET GARDEN

Fern for all the family...

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Mary quite contrary revelationsMotherly

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