TIFF Review: Tamara Drewe

A rom-com that's more about hormones than romance, this British-society film is a sharp, fun farce with a dark edge.

The problem with rom-coms is that they focus on two of the most subjective subjects: romance and comedy. But if your tastes in both lean more towards the dark and absurd Tamara Drewe might just be for you.

Based on Posy Simmonds’ comic strip for the Guardian, which in turn was inspired by Thomas Hardy's Far From the Maddening Crowd, Tamara Drewe takes us to the small town of Ewedon and a writer's retreat filled with fuddy-duddies, academics, and generally self-aggrandizing folks. When Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to sell her mother's estate follies, confusion and bad choices ensue. But Tamara Drewe is less about love and more about lust, and how we can be equally cruel and kind to each other in the pursuit of both.

Director Stephen Fears, no stranger to poignantly capturing British society on film, weaves a cross-section of classes from the local girls (Coronation Street fans will recognize Jessica Barden as the brutally funny Jody), to farm hands to rock stars, resulting in a scathingly humorous picture of modern-day bourgeoisie. Arterton carries both the comedic and darker scenes, and while the shorts she’s wearing in the film’s poster might have you recalling her Bond Girl past, from the beginning she is set up to share her sex-object status with Andy (Luke Evans). As the opening credits roll over Andy chopping wood at dawn, we realize this won't be your typical romantic adventure. In Tamara Drewe women and men lust equally, and with equally disastrous results.

Sharply written, with an impressive ensemble cast and a twist ending that gives a new meaning to “mad cow,” Tamara Drewe is a fun farce with an edge.