Testament of Youth is a powerful story of love, war and remembrance, based on the First World War memoir by Vera Brittain, which has become the classic testimony of that war from a woman’s point of view. A searing journey from youthful hopes and dreams to the edge of despair and back again, it’s a film about young love, the futility of war and how to make sense of the darkest times.
A beautifully acted but disappointingly stiff period drama.
– Cath Clarke,
Time Out,
12 Jan 2015
fresh:
Kent presents the female experience of war with crisp, tactile practicality ... Unabashedly romantic the film may be, but little about Brittain's grief-ridden personal awakening is needlessly romanticized.
– Guy Lodge,
Variety,
20 Jan 2015
fresh:
Striking an elegantly sustained balance between intimacy and historical scope, director James Kent's WWI-set epic Testament of Youth encompasses nearly all of the virtues of classical British period drama and nearly none of the vices.