The Thirteenth Tale

The Thirteenth Tale 2013

• Director: James Kent
• Based on the book by Diane Setterfield
• Cast: Olivia Colman, Vanessa Redgrave, Emily Beecham, Antonia Clarke, Tom Goodman-Hill, Stephen Mackintosh, Madeleine Power, Robert Pugh, Alexandra Roach, Sophie Turner
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Olivia Colman – Murder on the Orient Express, Broadchurch, The Night Manager, Doctor Who, Hot Fuzz, Much Ado About Nothing Re-Told, Black Books
• Vanessa Redgrave – The Butler, Song for Marion, Coriolanus, Atonement, The Pledge, Girl Interrupted, Cradle Will Rock, Lulu on the Bridge, Mrs Dalloway, Wilde, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Howards End, The Ballad of the Sad Café, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Prick Up Your Ears, Playing for Time, Julia, Out of Season,  The Devils, Oh What a Lovely War, Isadora, Camelot, Blow-Up, A Man for All Seasons
• Emily Beecham – Hail Caesar, Merlin, 28 Weeks Later
• Tom Goodman-Hill – Humans, The Imitation Game, The Hollow Crown, Case Histories, Glorious 39, Hustle, Doctor Who, Gideon’s Daughter, The Office
• Stephen Mackintosh – Our Mutual Friends, Twelfth Night, Karaoke, Prick Up Your Ears
• Robert Pugh – The Hollow Crown, Doctor Who, Robin Hood, The Ghost Writer, Kinky Boots, Kingdom of Heaven, Hustle, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain
• Alexandra Roach – Testament of Youth, One Chance
• Why? Olivia Colman
• Seen: 25 January 2020      

       Vida Winter (Redgrave) is the author of many very successful novels. She asks biographer Margaret Lee (Colman) to write her biography. Reluctantly Margaret agrees because Vida is dying, and intriguing.

       Vida’s story is bizarre. It seems she’s one of a pair of twins who grow up wild, with no supervision. As Vida relates her grim tale, Margaret is forced to face her own demons.

       There is a ghost (maybe), mental illness, depravity, an old mansion in ruins, probably a murder or two, and some scary moments.

       Colman and Redgrave are excellent as always, but it is, after all, just a tale, captivating but not terribly realistic.

3 ½* of 5