Director Pawel Pawlikowski, in faded color and with unstable camera, details the youthful indiscretions of two English girls of vastly different backgrounds, a horse-riding, cello-playing aristocrat on suspension from school ("Apparently I'm a bad influence on people") and a freckle-faced commoner who, together with her born-again ex-con brother, runs a Yorkshire pub having the same name as the cellist's practice piece: The Swan. The one introduces the other to Nietzsche, Edith Piaf, magic mushrooms, and the love that dare not speak its name (except after ingestion of magic mushrooms). Despite intimations of a drastic and dramatic turn of events ("In France, crimes of passion are forgiven" and "If you leave me, I'll kill you" and the like), the plot settles for the gentle curve of sadder-but-wiser. Or from the moviegoer's point of view, sadder possibly, but none the wiser. Nathalie Press, a Sarah Polley type, corners the acting highlights, mimicking the sexual gyrations of her latest boyfriend and imitating Mercedes McCambridge's devil-possession dubbing from The Exorcist. Emily Blunt, a Robin Tunney type, monopolizes the nudity. With Paddy Considine. (2005) — Duncan Shepherd
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