Well, Netflix has done it again! They are truly winning at life right now, and have yet again produced a gem. I love a good sleeper movie. That’s what I like to call movies that are so refreshing and nourishing that they take you by surprise, like good sleep. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is one of them. It’s full of some of my favorite British character actors, many from Downtown Abbey, and the costumes are gorgeous! 1940’s attire is one of my favorite decades of fashion. The little island of Guernsey is a character in itself, and now I really want to go there and walk along the seashore barefoot, or walk along the high street on cobbled roads.
Here are 5 of my favorite scenes from the movie, now streaming on Netflix.
1.”You’ve conjured him”
I heart all three of these women: Amelia, Juliet and Isola. They are forces of nature on screen. They can be delicately intimate with once glance and in the next, beg me to cry with them at their heartache and loss. This is a favorite of mine because this is the beginning of a love story, and the only person aware of that in that moment is Isola and she was on point with her observations throughout this movie! Juliet did conjure Dawsey and he ultimately won her heart.
2. Hands Graze
You know that look you get when you are just seeing someone for the first time? Like you really see them? This is the moment when Juliet sees Dawsey, remember this moment guys! It only happens in movies and oh, was it done well. This simple act of reaching down to pick up a child’s toy, and their hands slightly touch, entwine, and the spark ignites and Juliet sees and knows, and her heart literally skips a beat.
3. Typing away
You wanna know why I chose this scene? Because I know this feeling, the keys thumping away, the thoughts coming wildly and reverently, unrelenting and joyous. This is me, as a writer, a blogger. There is joy in this, people! Getting the thoughts and ideas from your brain onto paper is a wonderful feeling. Juliet is a writer and celebrated author, but she is no longer pleased with what she writes, what used to bring her joy. Juliet is longing for something greater, something to fill the void she feels after the long war and her parents deaths. Writing has been an escape for her and when she meets the Potato Peel Pie Society she finally feels like she is home, she feels connected and in-sync again. After I watched this movie, I started stalking Ebay for typewriters, true story.
4. “You’re beautiful”
All of the above is true. This is the first time Juliet meets Eben, the postmaster who is raising his grandson after his parents died. Eben is witty and genuine and the inventor of the potato peel pie! Which is awful by the way, but who cares when you have good friends to share it with just make sure you chase it with Gin! This scene means a great deal, because it speaks to Eben’s sincerity as an old man and Juliet’s seemingly unawareness of herself and her impact on people. Juliet is beautiful, yet she doesn’t always know it. Eben is speaking to both her spirit and her outer beauty. What I love is that Juliet takes the compliment! She could have looked away and said “No, not really but thank you” BUT she takes the compliment, she is both surprised and delighted by it. I really loved that about her.
5. The End
Okay, who doesn’t want to lay in a beautiful English garden with a handsome man you love and be read to? Raise hands please. This is it guys! This is what love looks like in the movies. Dawsey is aptly reading Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and this entire scene is very dream like in the color palate and hues, the cinematography is gorgeous, and as the movie closes I wonder why no else had watched it yet? Thank God for Lizzie, because she was on board and we fangirled over it and had to write about our love for it and its characters that touched us. Go watch it this weekend, have a cup of tea and sit back and prepare to be transported to Guernsey Island. “So we grew together, like to a double cherry, seeming parted, but yet an union in partition, two lovely berries moulded on one stem.”
― William Shakespeare
All gifs courtesy of Tumblr.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is available to stream on Netflix.