The Colour Room

Directed by Claire McCarthy and written by Claire Peate is this biopic of revolutionary ceramic artist Clarice Cliff. Phoebe Dynevor plays Cliff, who we find as a young girl learning her craft moving between the pottery firms of early 20th century Stoke-on-Trent. She finally finds herself at Wilkinson’s run by brothers Colley (Matthew Goode) and Guy (Luke Norris) Shorter. It is here her talent is discovered and her career takes off. Cliff is talented, creative, ingenious and smart and the story follows her struggles for acceptance, the challenges of changing a traditional and male dominated industry which is busy telling its female market what it should like. It follows Cliff’s early career taking us into the 30’s including the beginning of her relationship with Colley.

The Colour Room is a very much (excuse the pun) paint by numbers biopic. We see Cliff’s ingenuity and determination shining through, portrayed through a watchable and enjoyable performance by Dynevor. But we also see the manipulation of Cliff’s actual story to fit a predictable biopic narrative. This includes the standard biopic struggles as Cliff’s bold designs fail to sell and the subsequent determination to fight back, not be beaten and ultimately gain success.

It is this predictable narrative and shoe-horning of plot devices, including a focus on the beginning of her affair with Colley, which detracts from what would be a fascinating enough story without the manipulation to fit the predictable story arc.

Performances are enjoyable with Dynevor very watchable in the lead, well supported by Goode, David Morrisey, Kerry Fox and Darci Shaw particularly. And the film, especially in its first half, is an intriguing look at life in the early 20th century and a really likeable portrayal of Cliff’s intelligence, drive and creativity. Sadly this was let down a little in the 2nd half as the film fell victim to its predictable narrative, altering a lot of the Cliff story to fit it.

The Colour Room is a predictable biopic that’s enjoyable enough. Dynevor is hugely watchable as the lead, but it is let down by its manipulation of the true story to fit its formulaic narrative. Which is a bit of a pity as Cliff’s true story would have been plenty strong enough.