Here’s an under-the-radar film we’ve been keeping an eye on: “Testament Of Youth,” a BBC Films production of Vera Brittain’s WWI memoir. The story follows Brittain, a young woman on track for an Oxford education who after losing both her fiancé and brother decides instead to go to the frontlines as a nurse. Alicia Vikander plays the iconic writer, feminist and pacifist Vera Brittain, and “Game Of Thrones” star Kit Harington plays Roland Leighton, her husband-to-be.
The first trailer for the movie has arrived and it boasts a lot of across-the-pond talent. The all star cast includes Vikander (“A Royal Affair,” “Anna Karenina”), Harington (“Pompeii”), Taron Egerton (“The Secret Service”), Colin Morgan (“Doctor Who”), Dominic West (“300,” “The Wire”), Emily Watson (“The Book Thief”), Joanna Scanlan (“The Invisible Woman”), Hayley Atwell (“Captain America: The First Avenger”), Jonathan Bailey (“Broadchurch”), Alexandra Roach (“The Iron Lady”) and Anna Chancellor (“The Hour”).
Directed by James Kent ("Margaret" and "The Thirteenth Tale"), “Testament Of Youth” doesn’t open in the U.K. until January 2nd via Lionsgate U.K. While all eyes continue to be on the quartet of fests coming up—Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York—we’d wager this might be a good contender for the BFI London Film Festival.
