I love when an actor you had zero familiarity with gives a couple of terrific performances in succession and is put directly on your radar. Such was the case with Alicia Vikander, who between A Royal Affair and Anna Karenina really took me aback. She delivered a tremendous range just between those two roles to where I would see whatever she was involved with. After sitting through her in a small role in the terrible The Fifth Estate, she is finally put back in the lead in the World War I romantic drama Testament of Youth, which has a new trailer for you to watch below.
She is playing opposite Jon Snow himself, Kit Harington, which has me a little less interested in this film. I love “Game of Thrones“, but Harington has always been the weak link on the show. He grew a tiny bit as an actor this past season, but his face remains in that pout I would very much like to punch. In this trailer, he has a few other faces, which is promising. The rest of the cast surrounding our two principal lovers is pretty terrific, including Emily Watson, Dominic West, Hayley Atwell, and Miranda Richardson.
The film looks like pretty standard fare in terms of period piece romances. They fall for each other young, he goes off to war, and she becomes a nurse sort of stuff. Typically films like this have to rely on their performers to elevate the material, and I believe this cast could make that happen. I am also a bit of a sucker for these period pieces dramas. I could not tell you why.
You can watch the trailer below:
Vera Brittain, irrepressible, intelligent and free-minded, overcomes the prejudices of her family and hometown to win a scholarship to Oxford. With everything to live for, she falls in love with her brother’s close friend Roland Leighton as they go to University to pursue their literary dreams. But the First World War is looming and as the boys leave for the front Vera realises she cannot sit idly by as her peers fight for their country, so volunteers as a nurse. She works tirelessly, experiencing all the grief of war. But, an indefatigable spirit, Vera endures and returns to Oxford, irrevocably changed, yet determined to create a world in which such a war can never take place again.
