Back in 2004, BBC Films backed My Summer of Love, a film about an arch manipulator that put its young star, Emily Blunt, on the map.
Strawberry Fields, which also received funding from the BBC, features another gamey gal. It's not as good a film but as the coy, ruthless Emily, Christine Bottomley deserves all the plaudits that come her way.
Anna Madeley plays a shy woman who arrives at a strawberry-picking farm in Kent and says her name is Tammy. She wears a dreamy smile and sings whimsical songs under her breath. Soon she meets sexy Kev (Emun Elliott). He takes her under his wing. Then Emily arrives and ruins everything.
Madeley and Elliott are charismatic performers.
Still, they can't overcome the schematic set-up - will the sensitive stud betray his moon-calf? Um, take a wild guess. Director Frances Lea has said she was inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire. Too often the shouty scenes that follow are merely theatrical.
It's only when Emily enters a frame that the film snaps to life. Lea manages to make this "vamp" appear both pathetic and alluring. As Emily totters - topless - into the sea, Lea's camera refuses to be entranced, observing her skinny body from afar. Later, we see Emily swaddled in bandages and the camera snuggles up close.
When it comes to female relationship dramas, mad-bad babes have a habit of hogging the limelight (see Jane Campion's Sweetie and James Mangold's Girl, Interrupted). Lea tries desperately to keep the focus on "Tammy", but it's Emily who takes us where we want to go.
Strawberry Fields premieres today at 6.30pm, Vue 3 and shows tomorrow at 3.30pm, Vue 3 and Friday 2.15pm, Ritzy.
Strawberry Fields
