It’s been a bit since we’ve had a “star-crossed lovers in WWII” drama, but James Kent’s The Aftermath is looking to fill that niche (if you’re a big fan of that genre, we highly recommend you check out Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea from a few years back). Normally we’d already be halfway headed to sleep, given how many times we’ve seen similar films come and go at the arthouse, but this film’s got some serious talent involved. Keira Knightly, Jason Clarke and Alexander Skarsgård head up the cast, which is absolutely enough to pique our easily-attained interest. In all seriousness, it looks pretty solid, and Focus Features dropped a trailer for it on Tuesday for your viewing pleasure.
Peep it:
While we’ll leave it to others to argue the ethics of portraying a romance between an English officer’s wife and a potential Nazi in this day and age (and casting Skarsgård, one of the world’s sexiest men in the latter role), we will say that director James Kent’s previous film, the 2014 historical drama Testament of Youth, was quite well-received. All in all, we’ll definitely give this one a shot when it releases next year.
Here’s a synopsis:
“‘The Aftermath’ is set in postwar Germany in 1946. Rachael Morgan (Keira Knightley) arrives in the ruins of Hamburg in the bitter winter, to be reunited with her husband Lewis (Jason Clarke), a British colonel charged with rebuilding the shattered city. But as they set off for their new home, Rachael is stunned to discover that Lewis has made an unexpected decision: They will be sharing the grand house with its previous owners, a German widower (Alexander Skarsgård) and his troubled daughter. In this charged atmosphere, enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal.”
The Aftermath hits theaters on April 26.
Featured image via Focus Features.