Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain struggles to survive in a decaying English castle in 1930s where she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love.
19 September 1954, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK
24 July 1979, Balmain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
12 December 1949, Caterham, Surrey, England, UK
1970, Africa
21 February 1948, Isleworth, London, England, UK
1972
6 August 1982, Hong Kong, British Crown Colony
3 April 1963, London, England, UK
1950, Feltham, Middlesex, England, UK
5 May 1983, Jersey, Channel Islands
18 July 1948, Hampstead, London, England, UK
9 September 1971, San Antonio, Texas, USA
15 September 1945, Wales, UK
1988, London, England, UK
18 September 1967, Cuckfield, Sussex, England, UK
11 January 1972, Butler, Pennsylvania, USA
March1991, Camden, London, England, UK
18 February 1948, Dalkey, Ireland
October 14, 2003
Romala Garai is utterly convincing as the smart, wistful girl with the notebook.August 07, 2003
A refreshingly mature look at first love and life's often-rough transitions.July 25, 2003
Never shies from indulging us and our desire for a gentle and generous world that doesn't slip into easy answers.August 22, 2003
The filmmakers can't seem to unearth the novel's inherent lightheartedness and instead treat too many events with earnest seriousness, trampling the original story's lively spirit in heavy-handed drama.February 09, 2004
...mines the rich veins of both Austen and Fitzgerald. But Fywell lets his focus wander. By the end Castle seems to come apart stone by stone.October 03, 2003
The film is a charmer. It's romantic, funny and satisfying.August 08, 2003
Dollops on the usual romantic, family and class conflicts with a very heavy ladle, which pretty much smothers the whimsical mood Fywell strains so hard to attain.October 20, 2003
The fancy-pants accents and period costuming make one feel intellectually smug, as if the afternoon had been spent watching a Merchant-Ivory film - only without the tedium of actually sitting through a Merchant-Ivory film.