Tuesday 22nd December

Tristan + Isolde

Director: Kevin Reynolds
Year: 2006
Stars: James Franco, Sophia Myles, Rufus Sewell

Today it was a choice between this and "Merry Christmas", a movie about the Christmas Day truce between the two sides in World War I. I hadn't heard great things about this movie, but it had always intrigued me. It turns out it was good choice as I quite enjoyed it. I'm still, however, at a loss as to why it was on TV at 2pm - it was clearly a film much more suited to after the watershed. But hey, that's Channel 4 for you!

The tale is an ancient one, something of a legend, about an English warrior in the Dark Ages, and the daughter of the (dead) Irish queen. They fall in love at a time when England and Ireland are engaged in a bitter war. Of course, when I say England, I mean all the separate colonies that make up England, as at this time they weren't united.

The film is enjoyable, and if you're British, involves a fair bit of actor-spotting - they've all appeared in various dramas, from Grange Hill to The Tudors. The film also manages not to fall into too many traps, avoiding making some obvious characters evil, resulting in you empathising with almost everybody. An enjoyable watch.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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About Me

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I live in Bristol with my husband Dan (who I married in July 2007), my son Joe (born 2012) and daughter Jess (born 2015). I work at UWE (the University of the West of England) in Bristol as a Research and Open Access Librarian. I'm orginally from Exeter, so moving back to Bristol is a bit like coming home - especially as I studied for my undergraduate degree here (also at UWE). I love travelling and movies, although I get to do a lot less of both since the birth of our children. Although we have still managed to fit in holidays to the Isles of Scilly, Chamonix and a summer in California since Joe was born.