Thus it is in this story. Jessica Brown Findlay is Emelia, and her last name is Conan Doyle. She fancies herself as the great granddaughter of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the Sherlock Holmes character. This is her albatross, she expects great things of herself as a writer, but at 17 (actually in her 20s) she seems to be out of sorts, not happy with her writing or where her life is taking her.She needs to earn a living. Both her parents have died, she stays with her nice older grandparents. So she takes a menial job cleaning rooms at a local inn owned by a writer who once had a famous book some 20 years earlier.But there she meets the daughter of that family, Felicity Jones (actually in her 20s also) as 17-yr-old Beth, who is a rules- follower, unlike Emelia who knows no rule. They form a bond of sorts which eventually is strained when Emelia flirts with then begins an affair with Beth's author dad. Conveniently for this film, the age of consent in England is 16. Also the Isle of Man, where this was filmed.So the arc of the story involves Emelia getting the albatross off her neck, and the start was finding out her real last name was Doyle, and not actually related to the famous author. Interesting and often funny movie. I found it on Netflix streaming movies.

I watched this film without any expectations, in the end, I got exactly what I wanted. Albatross might not be a masterpiece but it certainly has become one of my favorites. I wonder why Comedy isn't added in this film's genre 'cause I found most of the dialogues comical.As everyone saying, there is no exaggeration about Jessica Brown Findlay's acting, she was adorable and the other characters including 12 year old and old guys acted very fine.Humans make mistakes but realizing those and not repeating them is the important part. If you find someone feeling very low then you say any random thing just to cheer him up. Similarly, sometimes our parents lie to us too, not with the intention to hurt us but to inspire us and make us discover the hidden talents within. This is what I understood from the film.So, I give this movie 10 out of 10 'cause I totally loved it.

Summary- Seventeen year old girl, wears a conservative, repressed wardrobe which is indicative of her personality and demeanor.Said teen, meets a 'rebel without a clue type,' provocatively dressing, teen girl-friend, who is related to Arthur Conan Doyle and wants to be a writer. Said teen girl, much to the chagrin of her mother, and pleasure of her father, adopts a similar slutty wardrobe. Father proceeds to have an affair with slutty friend. Said teen proceeds to have terrible falling out with slutty friend over heretofore mentioned affair. The "earth shattering ending" involves said teen wearing an "I Put Out" tee-shirt, with a small, female, firefighter beneath that banner. Sad.I was really disappointed in this film- It had moments and brief sparks, but overall it's an abysmal failure.

It is hardly surprising that I repeat sentiments expressed in previous comments about the arrival of a great new British talent, I refer, of course, to Jessica Brown Findlay. In what would have otherwise been an unremarkable coming-of-age movie Findlay( 'Emelia') manages to transform the mundane. This lady's love affair with the camera and her audience was so complete that I felt sorry for that other rising British starlet, her co-star, Felicity Jones ('Beth'). It reminded me of the way that an emerging Angelina Jolie took over 'Girl Interrupted'much to the chagrin of the film's major star Winona Ryder. Findlay has that indefinable something, call it stage presence, that Jones doesn't. Unfortunately Jones also suffers from the same problem encountered by Sarah Michelle Geller in her mid-20s that of having the face of a perpetual fifteen year old! It would appear that Jones can go on playing schoolgirls into her thirties. Steady employment maybe but not so clever if you want to be accepted as a serious actor. The film has some solid character acting from such stalwarts as Peter Vaughan as Emelia's wise old granddad, Julia Ormand as Beth's embittered mother and Sebastian Koch, as Beth's one-book-wonder father with a midlife crisis. Good writing also, that broadens the characters and gradually enables the viewer to realise that it is not only Emelia who carries an 'albatros' that is stunting her ambition but all those around her are also burdened in some manner that is preventing them from moving on. In endeavouring to lift her burden Emelia alters their lives by the sheer impact of her personality. Interestingly two years elapsed between production and release of this film. One wonders if the studio, realising that the hitherto unknown JBF was becoming a star (Downton Abbey), had decided to rework the film and publicity to reflect her new status. If so I think the studio made the right decision.