Katie and I went to see Miss Potter, the biopic of Beatrix Potter starring Renee Zellwegger at our local art film joint.

It was quite good – better than I expected – especially the first 2/3 of the film. After that point, after a significant life change, the rest of the film is occupied by seeing Beatrix pull her life back together, which is not quite as interesting as seeing her get it going in the first place.

Aside from everything else, the appeal to me was that a great deal of the first part of the film was about, well, book publishing. Yes, in a movie sort of way, but it’s always fun to see anxious authors being met with doubtful publishers onscreen, even if it’s set in the past. It’s a good film about the origins and nurturing of creativity and maintaining one’s vision in a sea of doubters who range from said publishers to parents.

Zellwegger was good, although the way she twists her mouth up to express satisfaction that she, a proper young woman, shouldn’t express with any effusiveness, was a very annoying gesture. I had read one review that suggested Emily Watson, who plays Beatrix’s publisher’s sister, would have been better suited to play Beatrix, and part of me says yes, just because I love Emily Watson, but I’m not quite sure. Behind his moustache, Ewan McGregor was fantastically charming.

There are points at which Beatrix’s drawings come to life, as she interacts with them – expressing, I suppose, that these creatures have been her closest companions throughout her life. I was not sure if this would work at all, and I think the film would have done fine without them, but neither do they introduce some wildly obtrusive element, either. They sort of work.

There are, naturally, some historical liberties taken  – the most serious one being that it ignores Potter’s life as a very good, if often, frustratingly, ignored amateur scientist, something, if I very vaguely recall, was not ignored in the BBC mini-series on her life that aired ages and ages ago. In a way I can see leaving it out – it focuses the drama – but it would have been nice to see that side of her presented as well.

No matter. It’s an enjoyable film – despite the bits of animation, not for young children, who would be bored, and there is a very, very sad event in the middle of the film. But teens – especially teen girls with a creative side and an independent spirit (which I hope is all of them) will enjoy it, I think.