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Tamara Drewe

Tamara Drewe

Stephen Frears

  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Year: 2010
  • Language: English
  • Producer: Alison Owen, Paul Trijbits, Tracey Seaward
  • Executive Producer: Christine Langan, Sharon Harel, Maya Amsellem
  • Screenplay: Moira Buffini
  • Runtime: 111
  • Programmes:

Based on Posy Simmonds’ beloved graphic novel. When Tamara Drewe returns to the village of her youth, life for the locals is thrown upside down. Tamara – once an ugly duckling – has been transformed and is now a minor celebrity. As infatuations, jealousies, love affairs and career ambitions collide among the inhabitants of the neighbouring farmsteads, Tamara sets a contemporary comedy of manners into play.

United Kingdom,  Adaptation ,  Family Relations

screening times

    • Sunday September 12
    • 9:00:00 PM
    • RYERSON
    • Monday September 13
    • 3:30:00 PM
    • AMC 7

Note: indicates Premium Screening.

official description

In this modern comedy of manners, Stephen Frears takes us on a roguish romp through the English countryside, filled with witty dialogue, cheeky characters and philandering aplenty. Frears sets his film at a quaint writer’s retreat amidst the rolling Dorset countryside, where a group of aspiring authors gather one sun-drenched summer to gain inspiration from a best-selling crime writer. Highly successful as a writer, Nicholas Hardiment is also a somewhat smug, self-satisfied philanderer whose long-suffering wife keeps things running in his life and at the retreat. But, despite his roving eye, he always returns to her faithful arms.

Things heat up when the brash and bold Tamara Drewe, the local ugly-duckling-turned-swan, returns to town. Last seen as a bratty teenager with a preposterously large nose, Tamara is now back in Ewedown with a new nose and a sexy swagger, plus a successful London newspaper column under her belt that has made her a minor celebrity. When Tamara left town she also broke the heart of Andy, the local handyman, who still carries a thing for her but is suspicious of her newfound London airs. It’s not long before Nicholas and Andy are vying for Tamara’s attention, but the plot takes another turn when bad boy heartthrob and indie rock drummer Ben Sergeant roars into town.

To counterpoint the adult goings-on that start to take on a momentum of their own are two impudent teenaged girls, whose antics soon escalate when they find out that their rock idol has moved into the neighbourhood.

Based on Posy Simmonds’s popular graphic novel, which was inspired by Thomas Hardy’s famous 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd, Frears and his cast revel in the comic high jinks as the bed-hopping begins – and the teens stick their messy hands into everyone’s affairs. The touch he showed in The Queen, High Fidelity and Dangerous Liaisons is very much on display, and in his talented hands this highly entertaining story comes to vivid and uproarious life.

Piers Handling

director bio

Stephen Frears was born in Leicester, England. After studying law at Cambridge, he turned to filmmaking. His films include gumshoe (72), Bloody Kids (76), The Hit (84), My Beautiful Laundrette (85), Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (87), Prick Up Your Ears (87), Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door (87), Dangerous Liaisons (88), The Grifters (90), Hero (92), The Snapper (93), Mary Reilly (95), The Van (96), The Hi Lo Country (99), High Fidelity (00), Liam (00), Dirty Pretty Things (02), Mrs. Henderson Presents (05), The Queen (06), Chérie (09) and Tamara Drewe (10).

full credits

Principal Cast: Gemma Arterton, Roger Allam, Bill Camp, Dominic Cooper, Luke Evans, Tamsin Greig, Charlotte Christie, Jessica Barden, John Bett, Josie Taylor, Bronagh Gallagher, Pipa Haywood
Producer: Alison Owen, Paul Trijbits, Tracey Seaward
Executive Producer: Christine Langan, Sharon Harel, Maya Amsellem
Cinematographer: Ben Davis
Editor: Mike Audsley
Sound: Joakim Sundström
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Production Designer: Alan Macdonald

Canadian Distributor: Mongrel Media  
International Sales Agent: WestEnd Films
Production Company: Ruby Films
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