any random thing just to cheer him up. Similarly, sometimes our parents lie to us too, not with the intention to hurt us but to inspire us and make us discover the hidden talents within. This is what I understood from the film.So, I give this movie 10 out of 10 'cause I totally loved it.

girl/woman....she single-handedly captures your undivided attention, inspires your romantic fascination with youth, beauty, and a vitality & passion for living life to the fullest...I challenge any male from 18 to 80 not to fall at least a little in love with her...must see!

showroom floor in upstate New York. How much better can you make a movie for a 71 year old incurable romantic who can still remember what lust is all about.

believes she is related to the author Conan-Doyle who wrote Sherlock which she mentions on numerous occasions. She goes on to have an affair with Beth's father the struggling writer which makes you feel is due to her lack of a father figure in her life. This part is very well played by Jessica Brown Findlay who is not only beautiful but a talented actress. What really struck me was the scene in which Emelia questions her Grandfather played by the wonderful Peter Vaughan about if her surname is really Conan-Doyle the emotion is very moving to say the least and its a pivotal scene in the film where Emelia starts anew and becomes happy in her life, that everythings going to be OK.Beth is a studious girl, quiet and composed. She sees Emelia as both a friend and a role model to her. Beth wishes she could be daring and bold like Emelia. She is sandwiched between her bickering parents played by Julia Ormond as the pushy mother and Sebastian Koch her struggling writer father. The hilarious Oxford Scenes were brilliant with Beth and Emelia letting loose Beth looses her virginity . There is a OMG moment when you're left hanging waiting for the pregnancy test and you ask the question Is her life now ruined? What is she going to do? A part also well played by Felicity Jones and contrasts well to Jessica's Emelia performance the both compliment each others performance.The scenery is breathtaking the sunsets lights the film and fits the mood that trying to be put across and the theme of the film e.g. The girls are ending one chapter of the their lives and entering another. The ending was OK but I felt the could of shown a lot more, but overall I liked this film a lot my congratulations to Cast,Crew,Producers an Director. A very good film

to be sure but here are other lessons about family and friendship and relationships that are importantly placed in perspective.Cliff House is the Bed and Breakfast run by a dysfunctional family: the bitter mother Joa Julia Ormond , her writer's block housebound husband Jonathan Sebastian Koch who wrote a book Cliff House 10 years ago and nothing since, bookish teenager Beth Felicity Jones and young Posy Katie Overd . Into their lives pops Emelia, a rebellious, seductive and intelligent teenager whose sole claim to fame is her apparent ancestor Arthur Conan Doyle she dreams of becoming a writer to carry on her legacy . Emelia takes a job as a cleaner at the B&B, befriends Beth - drawing her out of her mousy self perception in to the throes of early adulthood, begins an affair with Jonathan and gets scowled at by Joa. Emelia's only living family her mother committed suicide recently are her grandparents - Granny Hazel Douglas suffers from Alzheimer's Disease and Grandpa the always superb actor Peter Vaughan - for whom she holds deep affection and caring.Beth is due to travel to Oxford for interview and despite the misgivings of Joa and the now lovesick Jonathan, Emelia accompanies Beth to the interview, there discovering the wilds of being raw and naughty. Upon return matters change: Granny dies, Emelia grieves, the affair between Emelia and Jonathan becomes open, and everything must change. The albatross of the title refers to the baggage each character carries, not just Emelia's name legacy The depth of friendships are tested - and survive.Without exception the cast is first rate - Ormond and Koch are already established stars and Jessica Brown Findlay and Felicity Jones prove they are on their way to become very important actresses. This is a beautiful little film to watch and to think about. It is a first class little Indie. Grady Harp

of the film's major star Winona Ryder. Findlay has that indefinable something, call it stage presence, that Jones doesn't. Unfortunately Jones also suffers from the same problem encountered by Sarah Michelle Geller in her mid-20s that of having the face of a perpetual fifteen year old! It would appear that Jones can go on playing schoolgirls into her thirties. Steady employment maybe but not so clever if you want to be accepted as a serious actor. The film has some solid character acting from such stalwarts as Peter Vaughan as Emelia's wise old granddad, Julia Ormand as Beth's embittered mother and Sebastian Koch, as Beth's one-book-wonder father with a midlife crisis. Good writing also, that broadens the characters and gradually enables the viewer to realise that it is not only Emelia who carries an 'albatros' that is stunting her ambition but all those around her are also burdened in some manner that is preventing them from moving on. In endeavouring to lift her burden Emelia alters their lives by the sheer impact of her personality. Interestingly two years elapsed between production and release of this film. One wonders if the studio, realising that the hitherto unknown JBF was becoming a star Downton Abbey , had decided to rework the film and publicity to reflect her new status. If so I think the studio made the right decision.

title is a reference to Coleridge's Albatross; the film reveals how it applies differently to three of the characters. It is up to the viewer to determine in what other ways the title refers to burdens the characters must bear.Albatross is a delightful film. The story is charming even as it is fraught with dangers. The acting is top notch. I would not change one performer. The background music ranges, appropriately, from whimsical to poignant. This British film is a drama filled with comedy. And it shows how life's resolutions sometimes come from tragic moments.