GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

JohnLeeT Single handedly, the "actor" Eddie Redmayne destroyed a so-so adaptation of a wonderful novel by giving a wooden, stiff, and even gross performance. He must be the most repellent "leading man" in the history of film. Of course, the script, direction, and ridiculous set design gave him a big boost in turning this into incredible junk, but it was Redmayne who was so completely unsuited to his role and who caused many to turn away in disgust with his fish-like kisses during the love scenes. These were crucial to the story and he made them repulsive beyond all comprehension. The rest of the cast was good but they were up against a brick wall with Redmayne. Of all the actors available in the UK, excellent actors with charisma and a bit of sex appeal, why was this weird, sexless person cast in the pivotal role? If the creative team behind this disaster set out to make a film that would be a complete failure, they couldn't have succeeded much more effectively. It isn't simply bad, it's terrible, and they had to do this to one of the most popular and moving novels ever published in Great Britain. Couldn't they find something less important to stick this lackluster and stomach turning "star" in?

emuir-1 Fortunately one can apply the fast forward button when watching a DVD. I struggled through part one, then decided to hit the fast forward every time the action moved from the trench warfare to the sappy romance complete with background piano. If this had been a Swedish film it could not have been slower. It would have been better to focus on the futility and horrors of WWI and scrap the romance, or to confine the romance to part one, and WWI to part 2 with no flashbacks. Perhaps if the director had cut the long pauses between Stephen and Isabelle it might have helped. When the ubiquitous weepy soap opera ending was revealed, I groaned.By contrast, the WWI story was spellbinding, particularly the character of Jack Firebrace. If the tedious romance bogged it down, the flitting back and forth from 1910 Amiens to WWI was overdone. Save it for MTV. Too much, too often, and too fast.

potter34 Let me start by saying we love just about everything on Masterpiece. We also rent a lot of British mysteries, dramas, and especially period pieces from Netflix. Our main complaint is that the male lead in Birdsong is quite possibly the most wooden and boring acting we've ever seen. Just awful. The female lead is also pretty wooden and her performance is even worse than when she appeared in Gossip Girl. I have nothing good to say about this show except the outfits were pretty.We expect quality from Masterpiece and this sure did not measure up! You'd be better off watching repeats of Poirot or Foyle's War.

Camargue Birdsong provided realistic insight into the horror (and tedium) of WWI; much less "glamorous" than WWII, but clearly equal in the scale of human suffering. Add to that the frustration of a young man coming of age and there is little raw emotion left.Eddie Redmayne IS Stephen Wraysford! A marvelous WWI officer; young, idealistic, and devoted to his men, he understood what they were going through, the hopelessness of war, and that, in the final analysis, all that matters is loving and touching! Years of suffering had infused Stephen with wisdom beyond his years. His time as a young lover occupied an exaggerated place in his life because he was completely enamored with Isabelle, yet had such a short time with her! He was familiar with paid sex with prostitutes, but his heart belonged to Isabelle. Sadly, he did not understand that a woman who was weak enough to succumb to an affair was not a good candidate for depth of commitment. She was Stephen's entire "world," but her lack of self-esteem prevented her from understanding that her worth to him was enormous. The bunker scenes with Joseph Mawle (Firebrace) and Richard Madden (Weir) and Eddie Redmayne are absolute magic. It is easy to see why they are rated as up and coming stars! They hit just the right notes as young men who were stuck in the war effort and were trying to do the best they could, while wanting it to be over and to just "go home." Oddly, Stephen could actually "go home" when he had leave since he had lived close to this battle area of France before the war. Stephen Wraysford was irreparably changed by the war and was forced to compromise his remaining years. His physical needs were met, but his emotional needs were never addressed; they could not be. If the war had not happened, one can imagine a long and satisfactory (if more shallow) life for Stephen Wraysford, involved in the manufacture of fabric, and of finding love, and if his future was to be in France or back in England. But, the war did happen, and those four years of horror continued to run roughshod over the remainder of his days.