Testament of youth

Britain/Kent 2014

Dir: James Kent

124 mins

Cast: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton; based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain.

Rating: M

Anchored by an extraordinary performance from actress Alicia Vikander, James Kent’s Testament of Youth bears comparison to many other superbly mounted costume dramas backed by the BBC, but this one has a special distinction: it chronicles the horrors that World War I inflicted on a generation of young English people from a woman’s perspective.

Though the war was followed by a slew of books about it, Vera Brittain’s account of her own experiences has been regarded as unique. It did not appear in the war’s immediate aftermath, partly because the aspiring writer didn’t know how to deal with her memories. She first tried writing a novel, which she shelved as a failure, a judgment she also made against a subsequent attempt to make a book by fictionalizing journals and letters. It was only later, inspired by filmmaker John Grierson’s coining of the term “documentary,” that she decided to craft a nonfiction account of her experiences, which became an instant bestseller upon its publication in 1933.

...An intimate epic, Testament of Youth has great historical sweep yet remains focused on the human vicissitudes experienced by Vera and her circle. Making his feature debut after work in television and documentaries, director James Kent proves exceptionally skilled in supplying the film with a hauntingly poetic visual sense and eliciting fine, exacting performances from his able cast.

While all of the actors’ work deserves commendation, special praise must be given to Alicia Vikander, a Swedish actress who does an amazing job conveying one young Englishwoman’s strength, resilience, intelligence and vulnerability. Considering the horrors and tragedies the war rained on Vera Brittain, it’s perhaps surprising she survived with her mind intact. Yet Vikanker’s performance clearly suggests the inner resources and tremendous determination that allowed her not only to pull through, but also to write an enduring testament to those who suffered and died.

Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com

... The actors’ unified commitment to detail and resistance to excess is echoed below the line on this richly crafted film, in which no single expert contribution — Max Richter’s alternate fragile and soaring orchestral score, Lucia Zucchetti’s unhurried but attentive editing, Consolata Boyle’s simultaneously star-serving and socially perceptive costumes — is permitted to showboat ahead of another. Hardy’s serene but sharply composed lensing isn’t immune to interludes of outright pictorialism, but they’re always at the service of the script’s own emotional surges: As iridescent imagery of wild flora accompanies a recitation of Leighton’s war poem Violets From Oversea, the film successfully draws the tears for which it honestly aims. “God forbid any of you should be soft,” Brittain sarcastically taunts posturing military menfolk in one scene; Kent, for one, knows the value of delicacy.

Guy Lodge, Variety