Albatross (2012)

Jessica Brown Findlay (left) and Felicity Jones in "Albatross"

From the United Kingdom, “Albatross”—an intelligent, touching, very funny debut feature from director Niall MacCormick and screenwriter Tamzin Rafn—is a coming of age comedy-drama about two teenage girls with vastly different backgrounds who meet and become friends during a summer at a seaside hotel off the coast of England. Even though the movie was actually filmed on the Isle of Man, with its rolling hills and gray skies, a few cloudy days along the Irish Sea don’t take anything away from this bright, endearing, precious little gem of a film.

The main characters are Emelia Conan Doyle (Jessica Brown Findlay), a clever, flirtatious, playfully sarcastic ingénue with aspirations to be a writer and a belief that she’s a descendant of the author Arthur Conan Doyle; and Beth Fischer (Felicity Jones), a naïve and gifted overachiever with designs on attending the prestigious Oxford University in the fall. Both are 17.

They meet when Emelia takes a job as a cleaning girl at the Fischer’s hotel, a sort of bed and breakfast run mostly by Beth’s stone-faced, officious mom (Julia Ormond), who’s constantly preoccupied either running the business or helping the youngest daughter, Posy, perfect ballet moves. The dad, Jonathan, a one-time successful novelist, spends most of his time holed upstairs hacking away at his laptop, or something else, while battling writer’s block.

The outgoing Emelia nudges the introverted Beth from her shell, carefully guiding her into an exciting world of casual drinks, one-night stands and bold fashion choices (a tank top emblazoned with the words “I Put Out” figures prominently in the film). Their friendship deepens when Emelia tags along on Beth’s college interview, and again after Emelia’s grandmother passes away.

Meanwhile, Jonathan, who had been tutoring Emelia with her writing in secret, becomes smitten with the teenager, leading to a sexual rendezvous in a dark closet. Once the betrayal gets out, it tears Beth and Emelia’s friendship apart and pushes the story into tricky territory that easily could have led to fits of clumsy melodrama. But Rafn’s sharp screenplay and MacCormick’s confident direction steers the movie safely from clichés.

Stylistically, the movie sort of combines the skillful observance of everyday life you see in the films of Mike Leigh with the precocious young characters and expert comic timing of John Hughes or Cameron Crowe. We believe in the characters because they are messy and fallible—but we also care about them because they are smart, honest and true.

The lead performances in “Albatross” are multilayered, expressive and wonderful. Felicity Jones is exquisite as the smart, sheltered college-bound beauty; and Jessica Brown Finley is a revelation in her feature film debut, a quick-witted, sexy young starlet in the mold of Emily Lloyd (“Wish You Were Here”) or Jennifer Lawrence.

The masterful, wordless last few shots—scrupulously framed and perfectly directed—are strokes of bittersweet brilliance. The movie is about the rare, profound friendships in life that hold meaning, even if they don’t always last.