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THE AFTERMATH ****
Dir: James Kent (15, 110 mins)
A ravaged Germany in the days after the Second World War provides the background for this love story, adapted from Rhidian Brook’s of the same name. Keira Knightley follows up the excellent Collette with another layered and nuanced role; she plays Rachel Morgan, reunited with her husband Lewis (Jason Clarke), a colonel stationed in war-torn Hamburg. Lewis’ task is to help rebuild the city and, as such, has decided to take over a stately German home with the original owners still living in it. Alexander Skarsgard plays the German widower sharing his house with along with his troubled daughter, Freda (Flora Thiemann). It’s a complicated house-share full of suspicion, enmity and awkwardness – eventually it turns to passion, as Rachel finds herself falling for the German whilst her husband grows distant, leading to an inevitable showdown. A period piece about the dehumanizing effects of war with Knightley and Skarsgard on good form – all simmering looks and intensity from the both of them – and Jason Clarke nailing the repressed, haunted soldier. An affecting romantic drama, well directed by James Kent, boasting snowy vistas whilst capturing an ugly side of the wreckage war leaves behind. Opens Mar 1