Firth was fabulous, excellent. The movie was absolutely perfect from the standpoint of period details. The colors were gorgeous and every scene was luscious. That is was got in the way; it looked too staged, more like a photo essay. It distracted me from the story at hand. It stopped the flow of things. I felt like I recognized some of the minor actors from either print or tv commercials. But the acting was sublime and the story incredibly rich and sad.