Set in turn-of-the-century Victorian London, Miss Potter follows the recent trend of films that chronicle the exciting, engaging lives of such interesting artists as Johnny Cash and Ray Charles. Beatrix Potter, the author of the Peter Rabbit children books, is the subject of Hollywood’s most recent biopic.
The real-life Potter is widely loved and acclaimed, and deservedly so. She worked hard to break the bonds placed on the women of her time to produce some of the most beloved children’s literature.
The film, unfortunately, is both stale and painfully slow to say the least.
To be fair, there are some moments of charming levity brought about by an amusing ing cast, playing on the ridiculous rigidity of Victorian society. In such instances, director Chris Noonan does a decent job of elevating an average script.
However, perhaps criticizing the script is unwarranted when it is dominated by the excruciating performance of the film’s principle actor.
Renée Zellweger, playing the esteemed Miss Potter, is insufferable. She manages a glaringly unconvincing English accent and, playing in nearly every scene, constantly infuriates the audience with her sickeningly sweet presence. Zellweger shows her vast range of expression as her mouth is ever contorted in either a permanently stifled smirk or a miserable pout. Unfortunately, it is this performance that irrevocably weighs down the film, suffocating any potential it may have had to seriously reach its audience.
The story revolves around Potter’s attempts to make a name for herself by publishing her work. Her attempts bring her into with the young and eager publisher, Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor), who later becomes her object of fancy.
Creatively, all of the characters she paints and writes about in her stories literally come to life on the page before her while she talks to them as though they were real. Meant to be an endearing quirk, showing her as a lovable, imaginative individual with the heart of a child, this actually comes off as trippy and disturbing. It ends up playing to the desperate loneliness both of her character and of the society in which she lives, mired as it is in pretension and protocol.
As the boyishly well-meaning publisher, Ewan McGregor turns in yet another winning performance, managing to play as one of the film’s few bright spots. He has a quietly charming presence that is commanding and yet seemingly effortless. McGregor manages to salvage many of his scenes with Zellweger, lending credence to the attraction between the two aging bachelors. Unfortunately, the final portion of the film proceeds in his character’s absence, as it showcases a new romance for Miss Potter that quickly negates all the emotional energy invested in the previous love story. This problematizes the film’s main focus on the McGregor romance, and thus weakens the plotting.
The legacy of Beatrix Potter is a great one, but sadly, this film doesn’t do it justice. While she effectively broke gender barriers and disregarded class distinction for love, Chris Noonan manages to make Potter’s story seem turgidly flat and unengaging.
Miss Potter is not helped in any way, shape or form by the obnoxious presence of Renée Zellweger whose performance is equally listless. Aside from a few moments of endearingly quaint humour, from McGregor and the ing cast, this latest biopic, a far cry from the moving or the emotionally-charged Walk The Line, is utterly steeped in mediocrity.
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