phd_travel A more modern Jane Austen type story of sisters without money and finding love. The countryside setting is charming and it is beautifully filmed.The acting is good. The casting is good. Rose Byrne is pretty. Romola Garai acts well for a difficult complex role. The other supporting cast are good too. Sinead Cusack is an odd choice for an American. Henry Thomas looks a bit puffy. The ending is more modern than Jane Austen in that it is not one of those typical feel good endings but it is slightly sad for the same reason. It is about realistic love not fairytale love.This is worth watching for an unusual story and . Just a bit depressing at the end. The nudity was not necessary for the movie if they had left it out more people might have been able to see this movie.

Deanna Owen I am a fan of Dodie Smith's book and thought that this movie complemented the book very well.The style and look of the movie was brilliant. From the clothes to the scenery, it was a visual feast.The best part of this movie was the casting. The casting was perfect! Every actor fit their character beautifully. Romola Garai was great as the naive Cassandra. Henry Cavil is wonderful in his quiet, intense way (and of course he's gorgeous!), and Marcus Blucas and Henry Thomas were utterly charming as the Cotton brothers.The only thing I can say negative about this movie is that the conclusion was made very obvious. The relationships between characters was given away at the very beginning, lessening the impact of the ending. (It's more subtle in the book.) I highly request reading the book first, before seeing the movie! It will allow you to make your own assumptions about the characters before the movie reveals all! If you want to see a smart, romance I suggest this film!

Flagrant-Baronessa In the picturesque 1930's English countryside "I Capture the Castle" tells the story of an eccentric family in a decrepit, murky and leaky old castle that is now a shadow of its former majestic self, as is the father of the family. Their financial and romantic struggles are sewn together by an apt narrative by its lead character Cassandra (Romola Garai) who is the youngest daughter in the family. The film is adapted from the same-titled cultish novel by Dodie Smith and it is glaringly apparent that the latter is interwoven with classic Jane Austen elements: class struggles, layered characters, English landscapes – and one heck of a high-spirited and likable heroine, Lizze Bennet-style.Yes, the film wholly belongs to Romolai Garai who portrays this heroine with remarkable sweetness, honesty and selflessness. Although there is a wealth of intrinsically 'good' characters to be found in the story, Cassandra is unmistakably the most likable one and indeed she propels the film with her warm, caring charisma. It is a damn shame the unspeakably talented Romola was not showered with awards for her unrivalled performance. Billy Nighy also chips in as the father of the family – a failed writer who suffers from chronic writer's block and is moody and self-indulgent because of it. Yet he moves away from the Nighy-like acting of "charming prat" here and instead hands in a bruised, broken and tragic performance. The conflict emerges with the blossoming of Rose (Rose Byrne), the oldest sister. She is the official family beauty and selfish on the surface, desperate to marry so she will get away from the miserable old leaky castle and escape into wealth. In a time of social climbers, Rose is a mountaineer. So naturally when one night two rich and eligible American bachelors (and brothers) set foot in the castle, she takes her chance. Cassandra forever takes a backseat to her older sister, but remains kind and happy for her nonetheless.When Rose starts climbing the social latter, the financial constraints of the family are eased, but is she truly willing to marry only for money? 'I Capture the Castle' explores this question through the perspective of Cassandra as she writes her 147 pages of musings. It often offers delicate and classy humour in the juxtapositions of the seedy, drafty castle life with the glossy upper-class dinners at the American brothers' estates and indeed the whole film is peppered with light-hearted comedic situations and crafted with humorous, charming strokes. Yet it needs to be said that were it not for Romola Garai as the spirited tomboy Cassandra, the castle would have fallen apart – literally and figuratively.There is that unmistakable romantic angle to every element of the story – never chick-flicky but always love-oriented – that renders I Capture the Castle a pleasant Austen-diversion. Hard-boiled attention-deficit action-viewers, you have been warned.8 out of 10

polycan This has always been one of my favourite books. I was thrilled when I saw that the book had been made into a movie, for the first time since it was written, over 50 years before.I think Romola Garai is brilliant as Cassandra, but it is a shame that some of the dialogue she is given just does not compare well with the book. Bill Nighy did not seem to be the right actor for James Mortmain, who I think is more of a stiff-upper-lip type, not so artsy as Nighy portrays him - Mortmain has written a book but it's a scholarly work.I know a book has to change when it becomes a movie, but I missed characters like the romantically-minded school teacher and the dressmaker's dummy that Cassandra "brings to life". I also miss details like Topaz and Rose having long blonde hair (described beautifully in the opening pages of the book) and Thomas being 15 - so not quite as precocious as he appears to be in the movie.The movie captures some of the book's charm: the castle, the countryside, Cassandra's emotions, but I felt it was unnecessary to make up a particular scene between Cassandra and her father (I think this was done to accommodate Nighy's acting style) and I was really disappointed by the ending, where Cassandra seemingly lets go of her love, writing it off as a general experience, rather than declaring her love, as she does in the book, and her hope that the man she loves will return.