The source material for this rather feckless period piece directed by Frenchman Francois Ozon (in English) is a 1957 novel by British author Elizabeth Taylor.

Star rating **
Dir: Francois Ozon
With: Romola Garai, Sam Neil, Charlotte Rampling

The source material for this rather feckless period piece directed by Frenchman Francois Ozon (in English) is a 1957 novel by British author Elizabeth Taylor. Based on the life of Queen Victoria's favourite writer Marie Corelli, Taylor's book used the rise and fall of a fictional female scribe named Angel Deverell (played by Romola Garai) as an opportunity to satirise the melodramatic fiction popular in the Edwardian era. Curiously, Ozon has opted to play the self-evidently silly story straight, ditching the wit and irony of the book and instead giving us an example of the very thing Taylor was targeting. Perhaps Ozon thought he was being clever? Perhaps he was being too clever? Or perhaps working in English hobbled his talent, much in evidence in his previous films, among which Sitcom and 8 Women exemplified a wicked comic touch sadly missing here.