Living With the Tudors
D: Karen Guthrie & Nina PopeThere have been a lot of beautiful losers and nerds in ascension at this year’s fest; Living With the Tudors lenses a distinctly different (and altogether less chic) kind of geek-out: that of British 16th century enthusiasts who gather summerly at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk to re-enact Tudor life, ruffs, mead, and all. Co-filmmakers Guthrie and Pope – who, as longtime re-enactors, enjoyed unprecedented access to the proceedings – treat their subjects with an affectionate respect but also, to the benefit of the film, an insider’s occasional annoyance. They take a bit too leisurely pace at first, but once their subjects become characters in their own right, the film finds its footing and – in the case of a sweet, hulking, self-aware teenager named Danny – a hero, too. “It makes you feel cozy inside,” one re-enactor says of the make-believe they’re all playing at; after 83 minutes getting to know them – some of whom have lived extraordinary lives already and experienced extraordinary losses, as well (loss of limb, even), one hopes for them nothing but the best, and why not coziness, too?
This article appears in March 14 • 2008.
