Bill Paterson- Actor of the Week

I think the first time I saw Bill Paterson was as Sandy opposite Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson in the amazing Truly Madly Deeply. That was way back in 1990 and he has been in so many great things since then. A few of his period pieces really stand out.

As Molly Gibson's father Dr. Gibson in Wives and Daughters, Bill Paterson stole many of our hearts. The ultimate firm but loving father, he and Justine Waddell absolutely transport me into their middle class Victorian home. Toasting cheese sandwiches by the fire is possibly my favourite scene between these two wonderful actors.

As another loving but firm father Rupert Potter in Miss Potter, Bill Paterson gets the tone just right again. And those mutton chop whiskers are hilarious. Great chemistry again here, this time with Renee Zellweger.

Well, here he is again in Victorian garb as Mr. Meagles in Little Dorrit. Not a huge role, but a significant one as the father of Pet Meagles, the romantic interest of Arthur Clennam. Always the father of a good looking and sometimes troublesome daughter?

Bill Paterson has also appeared in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Killing Fields, Amazing Grace, and Hard Times. Did I miss any of your fave Bill Paterson films?

Valentine's Day Film Suggestions

The Princess Bride 1987

The Princess Bride is, according to my 17 year old son, the best film ever! And very romantic.

Westley: I told you I would always come for you. Why didn't you wait for me?
Buttercup: Well... you were dead.
Westley: Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.
Buttercup: I will never doubt again.
Westley: There will never be a need.

A Knight's Tale 2001

A Knight's Tale is also a fairy tale, a sort of Cinderella tale for the guys. Anything is possible if you believe.

William: It is strange to think, I haven't seen you since a month. I have seen the new moon, but not you. I have seen sunsets and sunrises, but nothing of your beautiful face. The pieces of my broken heart are so small that they could be passed through the eye of a needle. I miss you like the sun misses the flower; like the sun misses the flower in the depths of winter. Instead of beauty to direct its light to, the heart hardens like the frozen world your absence has banished me to. I next compete in the city of Paris, I will find it empty and in the winter if you are not there. Hope guides me, that is what gets me through the day and especially the night. The hope that after you're gone from my sight, it will not be the last time that I look upon you.

Shakespeare in Love 1998

Shakespeare in Love is romance itself. Who better than The Bard of Avon to teach us about love.

Queen Elizabeth: Playwrights teach us nothing about love. They make it pretty, they make it comical, or they make it lust, but they cannot make it true.
Viola De Lesseps: Oh, but they can! 

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest is romance with a comic twist. Oscar Wilde mixes equal amounts of love and silliness.

Cecily: You must not laugh at me, darling, but it has always been a girlish dream of mine to love a man named Ernest.

Sense and Sensibility 1995

Sense and Sensibility takes a wonderful book by Jane Austen and brings it to life on the screen so well, it will make your heart ache.

Elinor Dashwood: What do you know of my heart? What do you know of anything but your own suffering. For weeks, Marianne, I've had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature. It was forced on me by the very person whose prior claims ruined all my hope. I have endured her exultations again and again whilst knowing myself to be divided from Edward forever. Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you.

Jane Eyre 2011

Jane Eyre is an incredibly romantic book. The recent film leaves a lot out, but not the romance!

Rochester: I offer you my hand, my heart. Jane, I ask you to pass through life at my side. You are my equal and my likeness. Will you marry me?
Jane Eyre: Are you mocking me?
Rochester: You doubt me.
Jane Eyre: Entirely.

Miss Potter 2006

Miss Potter is sweet and romantic. You're never too old for love! (and bunnies!)

Let me teach you how to dance
let me lead you to the floor
simply place your hand in mine
and then think of nothing more
let the music cast its spell
give the atmosphere a chance
simply follow where I lead
let me teach you how to dance

Lady Jane 1986

Lady Jane is a tragedy as well as a romance. It is not historically accurate, but it will make you believe in true love. Hey, Carey Elwes is in 2 of my picks! Fancy that.

Jane: [reading] The soul takes flight to the world that is eternal... invisible. But there arriving she is sure of bliss, and forever dwells in paradise.

An Ideal Husband 1999

An Ideal Husband is another Oscar Wilde, but this one is more of a commentary on the kind of love you find in an established marriage. Still a bit silly, but a very lovely ending.

Lord Arthur Goring: Gertrude, it is not the perfect, but rather the imperfect who have need of love.
Gertrude: You seem to know a great deal about it all of a sudden.
Lord Arthur Goring: Oh, I hope not. All I know, Gertrude, is that it takes great courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it. And even more courage to see it in the one you love. Gertrude, you have more courage than any woman I have ever known. Do not be afraid now to use it.

Persuasion 1995

And for my final suggestion, Persuasion 1995 for the letter scene alone...

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago."

Sigh! Please add your romantic film suggestions in the comments. I just listed period dramas, but tell me which ones you can't live without, period or not. Happy Valentines Day!

Miss Potter starring Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson

Miss Potter with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor

Miss Potter is a movie which every time I watch it, I am surprised by how much I love it.  I mean, as I am pulling it off the shelf, I always think why didn't they get a Brit to play Beatrix Potter, and then after I watch it, I am quite happy with Renee's performance!  Zellweger and McGregor have great chemistry and the twinkle in his eye as he helps her to get her "Bunny Book" published is adorable. I always tear up at a "certain part" of the film-no spoilers here.

Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger at the printers in Miss Potter

Ewan McGregor is one actor I would love to see a lot more of, as he seems to be truly having fun with this role and really becomes Norman Warne. Emily Watson is wonderful as Norman's sister Millie...she and Zellweger's Beatrix Potter really seemed to give a lovely modern feminist feel to the film. The Edwardian period is one of my favourites anyway as it has such energy and excitement as the new century begins.

Millie and Beatrix in Miss Potter- "Men are only good for two things. Financial support and procreation!"

Barbara Flynn and Bill Paterson are perfect as Beatrix's London social climbing parents. I love Bill Paterson as a father figure especially in Wives and Daughters, but he is just as adorable in this film. Barbara Flynn is hilariously controlling in this film (when she kicks the chair of Miss Wiggin I always laugh out loud!) and she is also a fave of mine from both Wives and Daughters and Cranford.  And I have to admit that until I saw the film again last night, I didn't realize that Emma Thompson's mother, Phillida Law, played Norman and Millie's delightful mother Mrs. Warne.  For Pride and Prejudice lovers, David Bamber, alias Mr. Collins, plays Norman's elder brother Fruing Warne.

Filming Miss Potter at Derwent Water in the Lakes District

The Lakes district was used extensively in the outdoor scenes, which are crucial to the wonderful feel of this film. It is appropriate that they were able to use the real Lakes District as Beatrix Potter is partly responsible for the fact that they are so well preserved today. She donated over 4,000 acres of land to the National Trust on her death and her actual home Hill Top Farm, is now a Beatrix Potter shrine with thousands of visitors annually (including The Squire and I in 2009). Beatrix Potter is so popular in Japan, that the day we were there, they had a Japanese tour guide specifically for the many Japanese tourists who arrive there every day. Although Hill Top Farm has many visitors each year, it is kept quite pristine and untouched save for the ever present gift shop.

Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, Cumbria, UK

If you are going to the Lakes District and want a real Potter experience, the house used for Hill Top during filming Miss Potter is now a bed and breakfast with fabulously up to date rooms. Here is the link to Yew Tree Farm in Coniston in the Lakes District. I'd love to put my photos from the Lakes District on this post, but it will take me an extra 2 days to find them! I am such a techno peasant! If I can locate them, I'll add them soon. It will make you want to go if you haven't before. My fave spots were Keswick and Grasmere.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this one, do see it. If you haven't seen it in a while, it's worth seeing again, especially if you are in that certain mood for a lovely quiet, sweet film with some great eye candy (of a few different kinds!)

Peter Rabbit with that naughty look on his little bunny face

Norman Dalziel Warne and his nephew, ca. 1900

OK, I couldn't resist adding this when I responded to Mel Mel below. Isn't that an adorable face? No wonder she fell in love ---ooops! Spoiler!