Film Review: The Guernsey Literature and Potato Peel Pie Society – Guildford Odeon

Published on: 21 May, 2018
Updated on: 20 May, 2018

By Dennis Harvey-Hepherd

The Guernsey Literature and Potato Peel Pie Society is an absolutely charming love story.

It is set in London and on the Channel Island of Guernsey, just after WWII with flashbacks to the German occupation period.

Featuring a plethora of fine British, Dutch and American acting talent, the story is told at a gentle pace, focusing on the tensions caused between natives and occupiers and the after-effects in peacetime.

The story arrives at its inevitable and predictable conclusion, which is nonetheless, very satisfying.

Lily James gives a warm and believable portrayal, which leads the story. She plays a young author and survivor of the London Blitz, struggling at times with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The story could have degenerated into sentimentality but avoids this fate with careful measures of humour and grit to balance the sugar.

My only regret about the film is that it was not shot on the island. For financial reasons, it was filmed in the beautiful county of Devon.

Anybody expecting to see lovely St Peter Port will have to settle for a very different English fishing village. That is a minor point, but a distraction if you know the locations.

I recommend this for anybody with a love of our history and the tradition of British filmmaking.

I award it 4 out of five stars.