Synopsis
A love story set in 1930s England that follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, and the fortunes of her eccentric family, struggling to survive in a decaying English castle. Based on Dodie Smith's 1948 novel with the same name.
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Cast
- Romola GaraiCassandra Mortmain
- Rose ByrneRose Mortmain
- Tara FitzgeraldTopaz Mortmain
- Bill NighyJames Mortmain
- Henry ThomasSimon Cotton
- Henry CavillStephen Colley
- Marc BlucasNeil Cotton
- Sinéad CusackMrs Cotton
- Joe SowerbuttsThomas
- Sophie StuckeyCassandra (aged 7)
Recommendations
- 75
Christian Science Monitor
It's surprising no filmmaker has adapted Dodie Smith's novel before now, and pleasing that Mr. Fywell and company have done such a responsible job with it. It's one of the season's most captivating surprises. - 67
Portland Oregonian
There's something refreshingly and truly girlish about the picture's musings and epiphanies that makes its R rating baffling. - 67
Austin Chronicle
Falling in love with the wrong person makes for a far more toothsome melodrama, a fact this small, satisfying picture rightly recognizes. - 63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Sadly too often (and I'm unsure whether this is the result of voices that echo when bounced off stone walls or because the acting is all over the place), the characters create the impression that English is their second language. - 60
TV Guide Magazine
Smith's beautifully observed story of two young women learning how cruel and calculating the world -- and they -- can be is beautifully realized, and Garai stands out among a fine ensemble cast. - 60
Film Threat
Nighy is superb as usual in a much meatier role than even he usually gets. And Byrne makes her character far more three-dimensional than the shallow creature she could have been. - 58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The boys and girls are so busy acting out their romantic fantasies or soulfully pining over impossible loves that, however photogenic they may be, they never seem to actually live their lives. - 50
Village Voice
Sweet and sleepy, I Capture the Castle might feel most comfortable in a Sunday-afternoon slot on the BBC.
