Doyen of TV period drama, Stephen Poliakoff’s return to the big screen is occasionally inspired but often flawed. The Elysian setting — a final, sun-touched summer of peace spent by influential MP Alexander Keyes (Bill Nighy) and his family in Norfolk — is well-crafted, but gives way to a dizzying plot when adopted daughter Anne (Atonement’s Romola Garai) stumbles upon a violent conspiracy involving some LPs, a cabal of appeasers, and a grumpy Jeremy Northam.
Garai is spellbinding, as Poliakoff builds tension against a backdrop of golden cornfields and jazz-filled salons, but the MacGuffin stretches belief beyond breaking point, distracting from a potent tale of identity.