Not all movies have to be great blockbusters and make a fortune for the production companies and this delightful film is probably one of them.
It has a heart and a bittersweet message about humanity in general . Emily Mortimer is perfect in the role of Florence Green the idealistic widow whose passion is books , her bookshop and the memories of her husband killed in the War.
Patricia Clarkson as village matriarch and vindictive smiling assassin and Bill Nighy as Edmund Brundish give terrific performances.
Bill Nighy especially is superb as the reclusive bachelor , who befriends Florence and is drawn back to the human race by her courage. His role is not big and probably only 15 minutes of the movie but his performance is riveting. His character reminded me a little of a male version Miss Haversham in Great Expectations because of his remoteness and the pain of life's disappointments and his dislike of the human race.
I want to read the book as I have a feeling the book is better than the movie but saying that I enjoyed it very much but feel it could have been better.
I think it was a mistake to have a foreign director , Producer namely Isobel Coixet write the screenplay adapted from a Booker Prize winning novel by English author Penelope Fitzgerald as the film has a Foreign feel about it and seems to me lose some of the subtlety and humour that a quintessential British story should have.