Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I planned a fantasy itinerary to Guernsey. Gaele reviewed two books, The Getaway Girls and The Starfish Studio. Becky reviewed a radio drama adaptation of Persuasion and an audio book version of Jane Eyre. Sim discovered that Stephen Fry’s current project is a film based on the 2014 novel Summer Night, Winter Moon. Jean enjoyed a YA historical novel from 1974, set in Tudor times, The Perilous Gard. Tina reviewed the final installment in the Freida Klein mystery series set in London, Day of the Dead.

Three very different films, but they all have a British setting and a few laughs, so I’m going to put them together.

The Governess was released in 1998, but set in early Victorian England and Scotland.

The Governess. Set in 1830s London and Scotland, this film twists the romance plot between a governess and the father of the house. Minnie Driver plays a Jewish woman who pretends to be a gentile in order to get a job she needs to support her mother and siblings. The adventure of the whole thing is a bonus for her and she is not merely a victim of circumstances when the whole thing turns rather dark. The period settings and the beauty of the Isle of Skye add to the appeal.

High Heels and Low Lifes. Minnie Driver is a co-star in this film, alongside Mary McCormack. They play an over-worked nurse and an under-employed American actress living in London. To improve their lot in life, they attempt to con a gang of bank robbers. This film got lousy reviews, but I enjoyed the London sights, the comedy, and the relationship between the two main characters.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties. This 2018 film adapts a Neil Gaiman short story. So, you know going in that it’s going to be pretty weird. I got a kick out of the confusion of both the aliens and the humans, because that’s probably what it would be like when two species converse. Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman gave amazing performances of unusual characters. The reviews were decidedly mixed, but we enjoyed the coming-of-age plot and the otherworldly nature of both the real-world 70s punk scene and the extraterrestrial aliens.

Have you seen any of these movies? What did you think?