I didn't read the book. I don't care if a movie is accurately or loosely based on a book. I don't care if it's nothing like the book. I simply judge a movie on what it is. A complete book can never be filmed anyway so stop complaining. This movie is not great but it has it's moments and some of them are very good. Maggie Smith deserved her Oscar nomination. I like the contrast between Maggie Smith's performance as a young Augusta Bertram compared to her performance as the older Augusta which borders on caricature but she is fun to watch. I have had aunts who behaved similarly & so the Augusta I see here is very real to me. The stuffy nephew is obviously necessary but his character's story arc barely interested me. The color, the costumes, sets & locations are lush but the movie has the worst, cheap sounding bad background music. The complete musical score is perfectly awful. It makes an average but pleasant movie almost unbearable because it is constant & becomes an unwelcome unnecessary additional character who never leaves. Other than that, the movie is perfectly okay.