Last night I went to see the film The Bookshop with my friend who teaches with me in the English department. I mention that because there were times when the two of us were the only ones laughing at a literary reference. I think you might need to be an English teacher to really appreciate this film! A widow named Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) comes to a small village in England during the 1950s to open a bookshop. She purchases an old abandoned house to use as her shop and immediately runs afoul of Violet Gamart (Patricia Clarkson), an important and influential personage in the village, who wants to use the old house for an art center. She also finds an ally in the village hermit, Edmund Brundish (Bill Nighy), and they begin a lovely relationship based on books. One of the first books the two of them bond over is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and there are a lot of references to this book within the narrative, including a fear of new ideas represented by the books Florence sells as well as the final resolution. It is a very subtle movie that moves at a slow pace but I loved the message about finding courage to pursue your dream against opposition. I also loved the performances: Clark plays Violet with a savage gentility, Mortimer gives Florence a quiet dignity, and Nighy is incredibly affecting as a misanthrope who prefers books to people. I found this film to be incredibly charming but I struggle to think of anyone who would enjoy it as much as my friend and I did.
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