Albatross (2011)

This is a coming of age tale that has some very common elements, but is well put together and worth a look--it streams on Netflix, so it is also accessible. The movie was filmed on the Isle of Man, a gorgeous seaside location. Jessica Brown Findlay (best known by me as Lady Sybil in Downton Abby) plays Emelia Conan Doyle, plays a wild child local girl, wanna-be writer, convinced that she’s related to Sir Arthur (a story told to her by her mother and not corrected by her grandparents),who lives with her elderly grandparents after her mother’s suicide. At 17 and already out of school, she comes to work as a maid in Cliff House, a B&B overlooking the Irish Sea, where she meets Beth (Felicity Jones), the daughter of Cliff House’s owners, Jonathan and Joa. Despite the fact that Jonathan’s played by the brilliant German actor Sebastian Koch (the spied upon poet in 'The Lives of Others') and the imitable Julia Ormond ('The Curious Case of Benjamin Button') who plays Joa, it’s the two youngsters who steal the show. Beth is on a straight and narrow path when she meets Emelia. She needs a friend and Emelia steps smartly into those shoes, and while there is a moment near the films end where they have a falling out, the relationship is a good one for her, when all is said and done. Emelia is another story. She is almost saddled with the sense that she is destined to write based on her presumed genetic connection with the widely loved author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. She allow Jonathan to seduce her in exchange for writing lessons. Jonathan does not come off well here, by the way. He sleeps with his daughter's best friend, who he is also employing, while in the house with his wife. He is unhappy, no doubt about it, but he makes every mistake in the book, and learns too little too late. The best part of the movie is Emelia's transformation from the traumatized teenager into a young woman who feels better able to make good choices.