Parents' Guide to A Month by the Lake

The settings are undeniably stunning—you can't go wrong with Lake Como—but the A-List cast promises more than the screenplay and directing can deliver here. Redgrave's Miss Bentley is pretty much the only likable character in A Month by the Lake, and even then she pursues a man who continues to be aloof, disappointing, and sometimes downright childish. There's very little chemistry between her and Fox's Wilshaw, or between him and Thurman's Beaumont for that matter. He's gifted a few vulnerable moments that make his character a little more relatable, but Thurman isn't given much beyond the "attractive younger woman" to work with. Redgrave refuses to be made one-dimensional though, with viewers unsure about how much of her behavior is cooly manipulative, and how much is her being drawn toward an eligible bachelor like a helpless maiden. She has a zest and spark missing elsewhere, her ungainly tennis match truly something to behold, as she hoists up her clothing and lollops around, beating Wilshaw's cocksure technique with little trouble. It all has promise, but the result feels like, despite the majestic surrounds, the magic wasn't quite there.