The Colour Room (Claire McCarthy, 2021) Phoebe Dynevor, Matthew Goode, Kerry Fox; biopic of Clarice Cliff; Sky
Phoebe Dynevor is believably strong and determined. Kerry Fox is strange casting. It's set in Staffordshire and she's from Aoteaora - and sounds like it. Matthew Goode is adequate.
I didn't like the editing. It's a period piece, and I would have liked another couple of seconds to take in the setting of each shot.
... Except for the CGI! The childish smoking chimneys are really unacceptable in a 2021 feature film, which would have been a lot better off without them.
IMDb:
Clarice Cliff breaks the glass ceiling and revolutionizes the workplace at a pottery factory in 1920s England.
Wikipedia:
The Colour Room is a British drama film directed by Claire McCarthy from a screenplay by Claire Peate. The film stars Phoebe Dynevor (in her feature film debut), Matthew Goode, David Morrissey, Darci Shaw, Kerry Fox and Luke Norris. It is based on the life of 1920s-1930s ceramic artist Clarice Cliff.
Despite resistance, Clarice Cliff persisted in suggesting her ideas while working on the factory floor of potteries. Instead of mastering one skill improve her earnings, she started one apprenticeship as an enameller, then another as a lithographer at another factory to learn all the tricks of the trade. As someone supporting her widowed mother and sister, she risked destitution by changing jobs so often. All the factories still had Victorian perceptions of what women wanted, producing twee pottery with rosebuds. Cliff then got a job as apprentice modeller at another factory, a role rarely taken by a woman, apprenticed to designer, Fred Ridgeway. Fortunately the factory owner, Colley Shorter, appreciated her talent. Because of the 1926 miner’s strike, there was not enough material to make pots. Cliff knew that there was a huge stock of undecorated sub-standard goods. She covered up the imperfections with bright Art Deco-style patterns, instead of traditional designs, thereby creating her Art Deco Bizarre range. During the Great Depression, the factory survived because of her designs. She embarked on an affair with Shorter, (eventually they married after his wife's death in 1940). The skeptical head salesman took the goods to a shop in Oxford because they had a female buyer. The shop bought the entire stock. Shorter and Cliff engaged in intense marketing aimed at women with celebrity endorsements to make the range fashionable.
Metascore page:
80
The Telegraph
Ed Power Nov 11, 2021
For all the contrivances, it’s hard to deny the Colour Room’s charms. Ceramics are cold to the touch and shatter easily – but this film is gooey and generous and sure to impart a warm glow.
60
The Guardian
Cath Clarke Nov 18, 2021
The film catches the excitement of this moment for Clarice, and Dynevor’s performance is wonderful.
We have a family heirloom piece of Clarice Cliff's colourful work:
Wikipedia page.
IMDb page.
Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 10 March, 2022 | Now: 13 March, 2022