In “Ex Machina,” Alicia Vikander displayed a combination of flintiness and femininity as the cyborg Ava, a humanlike form of artificial intelligence that was learning about the way the world works for the first time. As the almost equally inexperienced protagonist of “Testament of Youth,” Vera Brittain’s memoir about coming of age during World War I, the Swedish actress taps even greater reservoirs of resolve and vulnerability. She positively smolders in the role — in an intense but nonsexual way — capturing both Vera’s innocence and her headstrong will. The performance is a subtle tour de force of feeling and restraint, made all the more remarkable by the whiplash highs and lows of this true but melodramatic tale.
“Testament of Youth” centers on the 20-something Vera, who puts aside her college studies at Oxford after one year when war breaks out. Working as a field nurse, she becomes the heart and soul of a tightknit group of soldiers.
Adapted by screenwriter Juliette Towhidi (“Calendar Girls”) and directed by TV veteran James Kent, the film is a celebration of female strength.
The more than two-hour film, which is essentially one long flashback, ends where it began, on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918. It concludes with the words: “All of us are surrounded by ghosts. Now we must learn how to live with them.”
“Testament of Youth” memorably charts that lesson, earning its cumulative power with a combination of grace and grit that is, in no small measure, thanks to its bright, burning star.
