Ethel & Ernest (2016)

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Thanks to them being shown every Christmas on TV,I can't remember an X-mas where I've not seen at least one of the classic adaptations of Raymond Briggs's books. With the films that were shown during the holidays about to be removed,I looked out for anything I missed,and found out about a brand new Briggs adaptation,which led to me going to meet Ethel and Ernest.The plot:Meeting in the 1920's,Lady Maid Ethel falls in love with a milkman called Ernest. Settling down in London,Ethel and Raymond Briggs have a child called Raymond. Whilst going about their daily lives, Ernest hears on the radio that Hitler has gained power in Germany. View on the film:Opening with a live action intro from Briggs,writer/director Roger Mainwood gives the title an incredibly warm,intimate atmosphere,drawn from immaculate animation painted with an expert mix of detailed designs for the house that the couple spend their life in,and light watercolours, emulating the melancholy of a fading photo. Witnessing the couple go from the fears of WWII to the swinging 60's,Mainwood delicately plays the score/background noises to land on each era,from the radio announcement of the UK being at war with Nazi Germany,to the feel-good anthems of the post-war years.Staying close to Briggs's original book,the screenplay by Mainwood gives Ernest & Ethel an exquisite sense of humour,with gentle one liners displaying how relaxed,and loved up they are with each other. Ending on an incredibly heart wrenching moment,Mainwood finds a Poignancy in the earthy daily life of the couple, shining from Ernest having to black out the windows during air raids,to Ernest and Ethel (brilliantly voiced with a rustic grit by Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent ) becoming aware of the passage of time,as they see their only son Raymond leave for art collage,from where he would later pay tribute to his parents:Ethel and Ernest.

I saw this cartoon film advertised in the paper, and I searched for an image of the graphic novel it is based on, I sort of recognised it, I loved the films The Snowman and Father Christmas, so I was looking forward to another Raymond Briggs adaptation. Basically it tells the story of Briggs parents, Ethel (Brenda Blethyn) and Ernest (Jim Broadbent), from their meeting in 1928 until their deaths in 1971. London milkman Ernest courts and marries housemaid Ethel, they have son Raymond in 1934, during the breakout of the Second World War. Raymond must be evacuated to the countryside, Ethel tearfully allows him to leave to live with his aunts in Dorset, while Ernest joins the fire service to tackle to shocking carnage from various bombings and attacks on the city. Eventually hostility ends ans Raymond returns home, Ethel and Ernest are concerned of his choice to enter a grammar school to study art, he goes on to from National Service to art college and a teaching post. Ethel and Ernest meanwhile continue to live their lives together mostly at home, Ernest is easygoing and has an interest modern progress and technology, while Ethel does her duties and concerns, this includes her worrying for adult Raymond (Luke Treadaway) when he marries schizophrenic Jean (Karyn Claydon). Ethel and Ernest listen to the radio and watch television to overhear and watch the most momentous social and political developments of the 20th century. The Briggs family is struck by tragedy when Ethel slips away, developing Alzheimer's, she dies and leaves Ernest to grieve, but then he passes away later the same year, Raymond mourns, but goes on to have a successful career as an author and illustrator. Also starring Pam Ferris as Mrs. Bennett / Aunty Betty, Roger Allam as Middle Aged Doctor, Peter Wight as Detective Sergeant Burnley, Virginia McKenna as Lady of the House, June Brown as Ernest's Step Mother and Simon Day as Alf. Broadbent and Blethyn are well chosen to voice the real- life characters of the story, they are very pleasant people with nice normal lives, it is mostly just them talking about the recent events of the time, and doing household things, there is no real story as such, it just works well as a great look at social interaction and how the world around you can affect you, and it has splendid animation, it is a wonderfully simple and enjoyable animated drama. Very good!

Ethel & Ernest is a tribute by author Raymond Briggs to his working class parents. Both meet in 1928, Ethel who is older, is a maid to a wealthy family. Ernest, a milkman who is 5 years her junior waves at her every day and then one day brings her flowers and asks her out.Ernest is a Labour supporter, Ethel believe that the toffs are born to rule and is a Conservative. They get married and Ernest saves enough money to put down a deposit for a house and get a mortgage. Eventually little Raymond arrives but they could not have anymore children. When war breaks out Raymond is sent to the country where he would be away from the bombing raids.After the war, Ernest cheers on the creation of the welfare state but ongoing rationing places a strain. As Raymond gets older, he does his bit in National Service and later goes to art school and insists on having long hair.The film becomes more episodic as we go through the swinging sixties and eventually to their old age. Ernest, ever the optimist, although it dawns on him that as a manual worker, he was always relatively low paid (he finds out that Raymond could earn just as much as him by working one day in art school) but he did manage to buy a house in London and eventually purchased a car.A charming animated film of two people in love and coping with events but also a social history of the twentieth century. Lovely voice work from Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent.

I've just got around to watching this today. As a 50-year-old I could relate to so much of it and relate it to my grandparents and uncles and aunties who were around during this time. Frankly, I found the film utterly heartbreaking. I must have had tears in my eyes pretty solidly for the last 30 minutes of it. It was quite overwhelming in places especially when Raymond views a body in the morgue which was very reminiscent of something that happened to me recently. I was going to write that it was a perfect slice of life but that is not big enough as it really does pretty much cover two entire lives. My boys who are under ten it has to be said were not gripped by it and did fade in and out of watching it but for adults, I can't recommend it highly enough.