Navigating the world as a young woman in your twenties is a tale (and reality) that we're all pretty familiar with. But ever pondered what it might've been like in another lifetime? Say, sixty years ago when your rights and society's expectations for you were a tad different to the way they are now?
Well, there's a new film coming to a cinema near you and it explores just that. It's called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and yes, it's a confusing and complicated mouthful of a title, but once you get past trying to say it all in one breath, it's a sweet rom-dram-whodunit-period-mystery movie that takes us way back to the occupation of Guernsey in the second World War.
It's an adaptation of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’s novel of the same name and stars the brilliant Lily James and Jessica Brown Findlay (along with some of your other faves from the Downton Abbey cast, if you're into that sort of thing).The Debrief sat down with two of the films lead actresses to find out what it was like to try and scope out womanhood back in that period of time.
Watch Our Interview With Actress Lily James
Lily plays best selling author Juliet Ashton, a writer who finds a shared love of reading with a community in Guernsey who incidentally find themselves forming a book club as a means of escaping the reality of living under German occupation. Juliet goes through quite a bit on her journey in the film, but Lily explains that the core of her experience isn't bound in the period of time that we witness it. 'Time moves on', Lily says, 'but the things we deal with as humans stays the same'.
As for Jessica's character Elizabeth McKenna, an integral part of this slapdash potato pie eating reading group who's absence is the mystery that the film tries to get to the bottom of, well, she's a bit more complicated. 'There’s part of Elizabeth that are infuriating, and really frustrating and I enjoyed being able to play someone who was allowed to be so far from perfect', Jessica tells The Debrief. ' It was very liberating because she’s really vivid and she’s playful and has left such a huge impression on everyone that she’s left in her wake'.
Curious? Well, if there's a reason to be drawn to the film it's these brilliantly forthright female characters. They're present and at the forefront of every decision and it's something that Jessica says she immediately noticed when she first read the script. 'One of the reasons I wanted to be involved so strongly was because the script had so many active, proactive, women in it and that was the real driving force behind the film'.
The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society is in cinemas on April 20
MORE: Don't Know What To Watch? These Are The Films By Female Directors To Be Excited About This Year
Debrief Films By Female Directors To Be Excited About In 2018
1 of 81. A Wrinkle In Time
Based on the book of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle, a movie adaptation directed by Ava DuVernay is on the way and if you haven't watched the trailer/seen that incredible Time magazine cover, you need to get on board because it's really exciting. It's a fantasy adventure film starring Oprah, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon and with this film Ava DuVernay has become the fourth woman and first African American woman to direct a film with a budget of more than $100 million. 23 March 2018
2 of 82. The Spy Who Dumped Me
Directed by Susanna Fogel, The Spy Who Dumped me is a comedy with Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon starring as BFFs who find out that the guy who dumped one of them is - wait for it- a spy. At the moment we know very little else about the film beyond the fact that Mila wears a blond wig at some point but we'll keep you posted.
3 of 83. Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig's directorial debut comes in the form of Lady Bird, the already hotly anticipated coming of age story that we all wish existed back when we were still in school. In short, it's a beautiful film about a young woman who likes to go by the name Lady Bird who is trying to navigate all of the usual suspects: her mother, her best friend, going to college, sex and, well, herself. 16 February 2018
4 of 84. Blockers
Kay Cannon who wrote the screenplays for the Pitch Perfect films is the director behind this comedy about three parents who find out about their daughters' plan to have sex on Prom night (otherwise referred to as a Sex Pact, apparently) and try to stop it happening. ILeslie Mann is in it and she's great. 6 April 2018
5 of 85. The Darkest Minds
This is another book adaptation that you're going to want to get familiar with real quick. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and starring the incredible Mandy Moore, Amandla Stenberg and Gwendoline Crisitie, The Darkest Minds is all about the 2% of kids in America who survive a crazy disease and end up developing superpowers. It's got a bit of a Hunger Games meets Divergent vibe if you ask me. 14 December 2018
6 of 86. Can You Ever Forgive Me
Get ready for another dose of comedy fave Melissa McCarthy in this Marielle Heller directed project. She stars as the best-selling celebrity biographer Lee Israel (the film's based on her memoir, you see) who was well known for profiling big shots like Katherine Hepburn and Estee Lauder back in the 70s and 80s. That ism until she lost her groove and ended up selling forged letters and stuff. October 2018
7 of 87. High Life
Celebrated French director Claire Denis has only gone and directed her first English language movie. It's a sci-fi drama starring none other than Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche and Mia Goth and pretty much focuses on a group of convicts who are sent to explore a black hole (knowing that they probably won't be returning from space alive) in return for having their jail sentences reduced. It's about a father-daughter relationship, it's about family, it's about home, it's about the unknown.
8 of 88. You Were Never Really Here
And finally we have a thriller directed by Lynne Ramsay that promises to be the sort of thing that lingers in your mind for a while after watching. You Were Never Really Here is about a private 'contractor' who is tasked with recovering a teenage girl who's gone missing. It's pretty dark and violent and intense but packed a resounding punch at Cannes last year. 9 March 2018
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.