Director: Stephen Frears. Starring: Gemma Arterton, Dominic Cooper, Luke Evans, Roger Allam, Tamsin Greig. UK 2010. 111 mins.

Beneath the rosy exterior of Frears’ (The Queen) Dorset-based film lurks a sombre assessment of Little England’s middleclass mores, and the jealousy, boredom and bitterness that mark so much of our lives. Tamara (Arterton) is a successful and beautiful columnist who moves in the gilded circles of London’s media world. But she was once the ugly duckling of her Dorset village and has spent many years trying to forget it. Her return is a rude awakening for the townsfolk, and two men in particular. Frears drives the tale with evident relish, at times evoking the subversive comedy of the Ealing crew, but elsewhere recalling the underlying menace of Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. Scratch the surface, and below the tranquil fields and fertile orchards roll great undercurrents of passion, betrayal and desperation.

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