8/10 -> B

First of all - Rush, Firth and Bonham-Carter were all excellent (in that order) and they are the main reason this movie works. While I certainly did enjoy it I found myself at the same time very detached and distanced from the emotional parts of it.

The direction here is very scholastic (is this the proper use of that word BTW?). It plays on all of the basic rules for scene framings and uses every basic trick you can think of. But it never feels like there's a genuine artistic vision behind it.

Also I'm glad Firth will get an Oscar for this role. He was much better and more worthy here than in last year's A Single Man. He was pretty good there, but it was a quiet performance and much easier to pull than the one here.

I think this is the best description I've seen of the direction, I mostly agree.

good not great. In no way do i think this film should have won any of the oscars it was nominated for.

B+.

Firth and Rush and the screenplay make it far more compelling than it has any right to be, but best-directed film of the year? I think not.