Peter Viney's Blog

2021
Netflix
Released 29 January 2021

Directed by Simon Stone
Written by Moira Buffin
From The Novel by John Preston
Music by Stefan Gregory

CAST:
Carey Mulligan – Mrs Edith Pretty
Ralph Fiennes – Basil Brown, excavator
Lily James- Peggy Piggott
Johnny Flynn – Rory Lomax, Edith’s cousin
Archie Barnes- Robert Pretty
Ben Chaplin – Stuart Piggott
Monica Dolan – May Brown, Basil’s wife
Ken Stott – Charles Phillips, archaeologist
Danny Webb- Grately, butler
Peter McDonald- Guy Maynard

This is a beautiful film in every way. We were transfixed, moving not a muscle for the full 1 hour 52 minutes. We were also deeply moved. Simon Stone works so well with the landscape and the actors. It is a surprise to see this sort of quality launched on TV … it was filmed in 2019. The supply of pre-Covid films must be running perilously thin.

The story is the discovery of the Sutton Hoo Saxon ship burial in rural Sussex in 1939, right as World War II was about to start, and that imminent darkness looms over everything. The Anglo-Saxon treasure found in the ship dates from the 6th century and changed our view of the history of the “Dark Ages.” It is now one of the greatest finds in the British Museum. The point is that Northern European cultures … the Britons, the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings built from wood, so unlike Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures who used brick or stone, their buildings have not survived which meant it was assumed they lacked art or culture. Sutton Hoo changed that.

In the original novel, the digs of 1938 and 1939 were compressed into one, finishing virtually the day war breaks out and the film follows that. They go to enormous trouble to replicate the original dig which was extensively photographed. If that sounds somewhat serious, read on. The story is brilliantly personalized.

It’s from the facts, based on Mrs Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) who wanted to investigate the ancient mounds on her land, and who employed a highly-experienced “excavator” Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) instead of an archaeologist. Basil left school at twelve, but is a Sussex accented countryman as a quiet polymath. While the authorities on archaeology assume it’s a Viking burial, Basil is the voice predicting accurately that it will be Anglo-Saxon. I’ve seen Ralph Fiennes in many roles, none anything like this one, and he is completely “real” in the role.

Mrs Pretty is a widow with a son, Robert (Archie Barnes), and is increasingly getting sicker with heart disease throughout. Her visit to the doctor in London allows a series of flashes of life in the shadow of imminent death and destruction in the streets. The location they find for the doctor’s surgery and the tracking back shot from his window are pure movie magic. Imminent death, and what mark we leave on history is the recurring theme throughout.

The plot thickens as they start to discover the ship, and then the British Museum, led by Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) barges in and tries to take over.

We were wondering when Lily James was going to turn up in the film. It’s at least half way before we see her. She plays Peggy Piggott, and the story of the film is based on John Preston’s 2007 novel, and the real Peggy was his aunt. So, Peggy Piggott arrives with her husband to help on the British Museum part of the dig. They are both archaeologists, and Peggy is mortified to discover that she has been selected on size and weight; at a mere 8 stone she will do less damage to the ship’s structure in the earth than her weightier colleagues, especially the heavy Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) the chief archaeologist. The real Peggy was indeed the first person to find a piece of the gold treasure.

Her husband Stuart (Ben Chaplin) is less than passionate, and enjoys the company of his male friend more than hers. See the bathroom scene in the hotel. Lily James has discovered that looking gawky with big glasses and mousy hair accentuates her natural beauty. She has always been a consummate actor.

Enter Mrs Pretty’s handsome cousin, Rory (Johnny Flynn) as the dig photographer, and he will soon be called into the RAF. Johnny Flynn has a twin career as a singer … and his band is called ‘The Sussex Wit’ so he knows the setting! We have seen him on stage and his rare charisma translates to the screen. For his range, see especially the review of The Globe all-male Richard III  where he played Lady Anne to Mark Rylance’s Richard.

In this tranquil setting there are also moments of high drama (twice) and genuine humour. No plot spoilers that’s all you get.

I will add that some anecdotal narrative is first rate … Robert, the son, with his future space fancies. Peggy has her tales of nightingales and cellos – a little piece of dramatic licence in the novel, as the event she describes happened in 1943. Then there’s her speculation on a Roman coin. All memorable stories.

The soundtrack is absolutely superb, by Stefan Gregory. We would both have sworn it was by Max Richter, never a bad thing. So much so that we thought On The Nature of Daylight by Richter appeared. If it wasn’t it was dangerously close!

It is very English. There has been no PC afterthought transposition of multi-ethnicity into the Sussex landscape which nowadays is unusual, though refreshingly authentic. We have the cream of British acting talent on display. Apparently Nicole Kidman declined the lead role offered by Simon Stone, a fellow Australian. Carey Mulligan is young for the role (18 years younger than Nicole, more than the real Mrs Pretty) but she walks it with ease. Never have I seen an actress portraying “fading away” so perfectly.

We’ve seen all five of the lead actors on stage. Each of them deserves “Best actor” in their respective categories this year, as does director Simon Stone. The countryside, the sky, the house interiors – all taken from subtle but carefully chosen angles. That ship burial theme resonates in several places … as Basil watches a sailing boat on the river, as an RAF pilot is laid in a boat, as Edith watches the stars from the ship burial site. An interesting technique is dialogue continuing after the actors have stopped talking on screen … at first you even think it’s dodgy lip synch, but it is a technique and it works.

And this is what they found:

Reviews? Three, four and five star. I have a strong feeling that the film is a “grower” and will be more highly rated as time goes on. Five for me.

*****

REVIEWS:

Will Gompertz, BBC
It is a thoroughly enjoyable film made with subtlety and sensitivity: a real tonic for these bleak winter days and nights. It lacks the emotional and intellectual heft and bite to make it an unmissable, classic movie, but I would happily watch it again, and again.  ****

Charles Loughrey, The Independent
The Dig quietly subverts the comforts of victory, exposing them as a fleeting and superficial state of being. Nothing will free these souls from the inevitability of history. Achievements fade and entire lives are reduced to, as one character notes, fragments of broken china or a rusted watch wheel. There is a contemplative quality to Stone’s film, which cinematographer Mike Eley matches in dreamy, handheld camerawork that hovers around and follows characters lost in thought.

The Times
Ralph Fiennes is flawless in this unmissable cinematic treasure.

Brian Viner, Daily Mail
On TV, hits such as Bridgerton and The Great rely heavily on sex, glib anachronisms, flashy camera work, more sex, deliberately flamboyant acting, over-the-top design, and still more sex. So it’s reassuring to find a film so anchored by old-fashioned verities: exquisite period detail, beautifully measured performances and a rivetingly told true story. *****

David Fear, Rolling Stone
Several compositions involving natural light, lens flare, and negative space — notably a shot of Fiennes lighting a pipe in the frame’s corner while clear blue sky dominates the rest — are breathtaking. A sequence in which he sits by a marsh’s edge and watches a ghostly ship pass by, reminiscent of what he’ll eventually uncover, is enough to give you goose bumps

LINKS TO OTHER REVIEWS ON THIS BLOG

SIMON STONE
stage:
Yerma, Young Vic, 2017

CAREY MULLIGAN
stage:
Skylight by David Hare, 2014
film:
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Great Gatsby

LILY JAMES
stage:
Romeo & Juliet. (MY REVIEW) Lily James was Juliet
film:
Yesterday
Darkest Hour
Rebecca

RALPH FIENNES
stage:
Richard III, Almeida Theatre, 2016 (Richard III_
Man & Superman, National Theatre
film:
The Grand Budapest Hotel (film)
Cemetery Junction (film)
Hail Caesar! (film)

JOHNNY FLYNN
music:
Hyde Park 2018
stage:
True West by Sam Shepard, 2018
Hangmen, by Martin McDonagh, Royal Court, London 2015
Twelfth Night, Globe / Apollo 2012 (Viola)
Richard III Globe, Apollo 2012 (Lady Anne / Lord Grey)
Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, 2011

KEN STOTT
stage:
The Dresser by Ronald Harwood, 2017