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.
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.
– Leslie Felperin,
Hollywood Reporter,
25 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:
A beautifully acted but disappointingly stiff period drama.