My wife and I have been to the Sutton Hoo NT site a couple of times in recent years. The refurbishment of the exhibition is excellent. We went the house which houses a display of photos taken of ‘the dig’. I thought that they might show some of the actual photos at the end of the film but was not to be
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Charlie would be interested… listen to his video when he says the days of his week… he starts Suffolk… he then open his mouth wider and wider as he says them … and listen to how the sound changes …
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Thought this thread was going to be about the Euston HS2 tunnellers…
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It’s a beautiful looking movie, some gorgeous cinematography, great performances from Mulligan and Fienes and a good story. The threat of war hanging over it and the class differences present at that time and death is always inevitable but your never forgotten.
I also like the editing style and it’s use of time to show images from another point in time to the dialogue. Time I think being a very strong element of what the film’s trying to convey.
Its great to see Netflix produce a film of this type as character study films are not one of its biggest demographics. It has a pace very fitting for the time it’s in, whisky pondering at times I didn’t want it to end was enjoying it that much. A perfect tonic for todays situation.
Suffolk lives dear in my families and my heart and it’s our favourite county to visit, we go on holiday as much as we can there every year if possible. It always feels like it’s in its own time and space, but not in a backwards way and I love the local art and food.
For me it’s win on all levels for a film.
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Rarely do films use the real locations for properties , often for privacy but more because they are not practical or just don’t convey enough cinematic presence. I noticed straightway the architecture is not from Suffolk. Like most counties buildings have a distinct look from county to county especially ones from more affluent backgrounds.
CGI is used a lot these days to remodel the exteriors to look more like the real thing and you kit notice. Not here though not enough budget for that. 
Yes I know about the “magic” of feature films. I was first introduced to it when I watched the making of the “The Wild and the Willing” later renamed to “Young and Willing” in Lincoln in 1962.
Some unique features like building a bedroom in a main street so as to get the view through the window of a half timbered building. Adding an extension to the castle tower (which actually improved the shape of the tower. - A pity they took the extension away with them.
I knew one of the extras in the film he was in the rugby match, the extras took pleasure in preventing the star from making the star shots in the match.
Topically… even the Sutton Hoo activities are affected by Covid
I went to school in Shackleford so it was quite fun spotting the locations. The house is Norney Grange. The dig scenes were shot up towards Puttenham - I actually saw the location in use although I didn’t know what it was for at the time. I didn’t recognise the village scenes but maybe they altered them.
Really enjoyed this film… thankyou for flagging it up.
We watched it last night, a little slow but quite enjoyable. I’d give it 7 out 10.
I’m Suffolk born and bred and found myself drifting back into my old dialect for a few days after watching it, even though I’ve lived in the North West for 30 years… Definitely felt a lot of Fiennes words were toned down accent wise - certain phrases proved to me he’d nailed the accent, but if he’d gone full on ‘Suffolk’ most of the English speaking world wouldn’t have understood him!!! My wife regularly asks me to translate for her when we go down to visit family!!!
I thought was off target with the accent quite a few times; at other times I thought he’d had a stroke.
Yes a few times he was off… but as Charlie Haylock says the Suffolk and Norfolk accents are some of the hardest to perform convincingly by actors… I agree if it was a fully broad accent it would need subtitles… I do remember many years ago my cousin coming down from Lancashire to stay… and we were in the village pub, and one of the local old boys, a bit of a character, was in there, as he always was, and I introduced my cousin to him… and quite literally the two couldn’t understand each other… never forgot that…
The locations of the film seem to be captured here…
Apart from one, All Saints Church, Ramsholt where it shows Basil Brown cycling with a back drop of the Deben… which is only a few miles from where the real dig took place.
Just watched this on Wednesday night, great film, well done cinematography, excellent script. A bit disappointed reading the credits that Basil never received the credit even after the speech At the celebration giving him credit. I am a yankee, so I do t know the English country side at all and actual vs. scouted location. Still beautiful locations and well done by producers.
Scott
Must take a look at that.
This was interesting:
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Just to be clear on this, the stones that its now believed moved from the site in Preseli are the ‘blue stones’. These are a ring of small stones each weighing some 2 to 5 tons that are placed inside the large 25 to 30 ton sarsen stones circle that are the predominant stones of Stonehenge.
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Yes, we watched it last night. Really enjoyed it.
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It’s fascinating nonetheless, I think we’ve known for some time that blue stones had been taken from the Preseli region to Stonehenge, but the fact that some of these may have been in an older circle nearer Preseli is very interesting.
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Indeed, I was listening to a radio interview with Prof Alice Roberts who said that one of the ‘post hole’ size & shape at the newly discovered Waun Mawn (Preseli) circle is a ‘shoehorn’ fit for a Stonehenge bluestone.
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Ah, postholes! Do you remember the days when TimeTeam experts could reconstruct entire villages from just a couple of holes!
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