A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic and the Great War.
Nary a tear-jerking trick is missed (our family loses one son to the Titanic, the other to World War I), and the strangulation is compounded by the staginess since the film.
– Tom Milne,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
This is the first big film out of the Fox studio since Sheehan's return there and this is a big picture from and on every angle.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
28 Jan 2008
rotten:
It's rife with fey, unintentional camp like the scene in which a newlywed couple pledge eternal love on the deck of an ocean liner -- only to move away and reveal a life preserver labeled Titanic.
– Ty Burr,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Feb 2013
fresh:
A gloriously, heart-rendingly beautiful, stirring picture of a generation in British family life.