Testament of Youth

"Divided by war. United by love."

2015 2h 9m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 812

HistoryDramaWar

Synopsis

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Testament of Youth is a powerful story of love, war and remembrance, based on the First World War memoir by Vera Brittain, which has become the classic testimony of that war from a woman’s point of view. A searing journey from youthful hopes and dreams to the edge of despair and back again, it’s a film about young love, the futility of war and how to make sense of the darkest times.

“Divided by war. United by love.”

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Cast

Alicia Vikander
Vera Brittain
Kit Harington
Roland Leighton
Taron Egerton
Edward Brittain
Colin Morgan
Victor Richardson
Dominic West
Mr. Brittain
Emily Watson
Mrs. Brittain
Hayley Atwell
Hope Milroy
Anna Chancellor
Mrs. Leighton

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Kent
Writers: Juliette Towhidi
Languages: English
Countries: Denmark, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Denmark, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Kent, shot by Rob Hardy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Max Richter. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lucia Zucchetti shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Alicia Vikander and Kit Harington and Taron Egerton carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Divided by war. United by love.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1441953 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Kent directs. Rob Hardy behind the camera. Max Richter scores. Lucia Zucchetti cuts. Produced in Denmark, United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 11 years ago.
2International production across 2 countries: Denmark, United Kingdom.
3Directed by James Kent, shot by Rob Hardy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Max Richter. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Lucia Zucchetti shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Alicia Vikander and Kit Harington and Taron Egerton carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Divided by war. United by love.".
8IMDB entry: tt1441953 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 20 themes, including "nurse", "world war i", "poetry", "pacifism".

The technical file

Cinematography: Rob Hardy
Original score: Max Richter
Editing: Lucia Zucchetti
Production design: Lucy Bevan
Runtime: 129 min · 2h 9m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $1,822,250
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Testament of Youth (2015)

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James Kent

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2015-12-04
★ 8/10
The lesson the WWI taught us that we shouldn't let it fade away. Kind of reminded me 'Atonement', but not a similar movie, except like you know the loved one goes to the war, serving a nurse in the army like stuffs. Actually, this one was a biopic of a young Vera Brittain that set in the England, 1914. Her wish becomes real to attend the university of Oxford, but at a same time the World War I breaks out and puts her dream to a pause while her beloved ones are fighting in the war. She fights her own way to save them and bring safely back home. For that she goes through many difficulties and by the time when war nears the end, the movie as well. I felt it was a bit lengthy, but covers everything without racing towards the end by trimming all the important portions. It was an anti-war theme. It demonstrated the struggles that everyone who linked directly to the war would go through. Like parents, fiancee, siblings, friends who send their loved ones to the war. Especially how the young generations are affected by the sudden warfare. So like the title, Vera tells the story by recalling her memories. The film won't show the battles, but only a glimpse of a few seconds for a couple of times. Alicia Vikander was at her best. She was quite impressive in the recent films of hers. I liked the filmed locations, some of the countryside landscapes were beautiful. The end scene is where it really breaks our heart, makes us to feel what Vera felt. The book which this movie was based on was a bestseller at that time, but was just a someone's story, although the world war two came. It is a good movie about a stupid war. The first major mistake by the man in the modern world, followed by another. 8/10
CinemaSerf2024-11-10
★ 7/10
I remember really enjoying the 1979 BBC dramatisation of this Vera Brittain memoir of her experiences as the Great War took hold of Britain at the start of the 20th century. It's all a little like "Narnia" as her family live out their lives in peace and relative prosperity whilst she (Alicia Vikander) considers a career at Somerville College. Her brother Edward (Taron Egerton) is keen to join up, but their dad (Dominic West) is having none of that so he asks her to try to "persuade" him. That's the start of her own involvement in this conflict, an involvement that is going to expose her to hideous horrors, personal and emotional challenges and to ultimately change her life for ever. It's not just her brother who wants to fight, but his friend Victor (Colin Morgan) and her beau Roland Leighton (Kit Harrington) and so she quite suddenly finds her self somewhat bereft and adrift, studying under Miss Lorimer (Miranda Richardson) at university - but unsure of the value of that now. Determined to offer some practical help to the war effort, she enlists as a nurse and travels to France where she experiences the trauma - and it's results - at first hand and where we, over the next two hours, get a sense of the pride, the sensitivities and the sheer brutality of this war. An indiscriminate type of stale-mate brutality that might seem totally futile were it not for the dedication of those prepared to give their today for someone else's tomorrow. It's beautifully photographed and Vikander presents us with an emotionally delicate but powerful illustration of not just this one woman, but of an entire generation who were ill-prepared for such an enduring and heart-wrenching period. Harington is easy enough on the eye, but he isn't the best for this part. Indeed, I found him to be just a bit too light-weight. Maybe that does typify the innocence of average officer who set off in a freshly tailored uniform thinking it would all be over by Christmas, but I just found his contribution a bit weak. That's more of a niggle, though, because otherwise it's a compelling story that bears watching and provides food for thought as we muse the continuing predilection of mankind to find new ways of slaughtering each other.