The Colour Room

2021

Drama

List

100%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

Clarice Cliff (Phoebe Dynevor) is a vivacious young factory worker in the industrial British midlands of the 1920s. Her creativity and ambition drives her to move factory to factory, despite the financial impact on the household she shares with her widowed mother Ann (Kerry Fox) and youngest sister Dot (Darci Shaw). Bursting at the seams with ideas for colors and shapes, Clarice takes more and more dangerous risks -- but she manages to stay one step ahead of the workhouse and impress the eccentric factory owner Colley Shorter (Matthew Goode) on the way with her talent and innovation. Apprenticed to renowned Art Designer Fred Ridgeway (David Morrissey) and with support from Colley and other women in the factory, Clarice fights her way through to design the unprecedented Art Deco 'Bizarre' range. In the middle of the Great Depression, she ensures the factory's survival and her future as one of the greatest Art Deco designers and a household name.

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dalee p

Delightful! Lovely film

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/12/23

Full Review

X O

Films always follow a story arc of the hero, but it's still a nice film. Free spirits need love. They give it, too.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/11/23

Full Review

Gigi S

Many first class movies have been drawn from the lives of real people. The Colour Room is based on the early life of Clarice Cliff (Phoebe Dynevor) whose tradition defying pottery designs became popular during the era of Art Deco. Cliff's widowed mother took in laundry, her father had been an iron worker. After minimal art training at a trade school, young Clarice was employed at Wilkinson Pottery, where her ambition and originality attract the notice of the factory design director and one of the family owners, played by underrated actor Matthew Goode. The movie is well directed, well acted, and an interesting story even if one isn't artistically inclined. If you are, you'll love it even more, as I do.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/09/23

Full Review

Tilly T

Always loved Clarice Cliff as my Gt Aunt had Crocus Tea Set and I would just sit and stare at its beauty and colour. So when I stumbled upon this film I thought, let's give it a go. So glad I did. I didn't want the film to end and it seemed to come to its end so quickly ! That would be the great cast, script and exceptional sets/cinematography. Lived every aspect of it and will not only be recommending it to friends, I'll be watching it again. Grab up the details I missed on 1st watching.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/31/23

Full Review

Gray R

This is movie watching at its best; historical, great character development, excellent cinematography, nuanced sexuality, steady tension...I vote for more like this.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/02/23

Full Review

Leslie K

Fantastic movie. Good story, great acting and beautifully directed. Loved it!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/17/23

Full Review

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Claire McCarthy

Director

Phoebe Dynevor

Clarice Cliff

Matthew Goode

Colley Shorter

Kerry Fox

Ann

David Morrissey

Fred Ridgeway

Darci Shaw

Dot

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Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

Phoebe Dynevor saves the day for what might have been a formulaic made-for-telly biopic about the ceramicist and feminist trailblazer Clarice Cliff.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 12, 2021

Full Review

Ed Power

Daily Telegraph (UK)

For all the contrivances, it's hard to deny the Colour Room's charms.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 11, 2021

Full Review

Cath Clarke

Guardian

[An] entertaining feelgood period drama, a bright and upbeat film that perhaps comes over as just a bit strenuously cheerful in places.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 10, 2021

Full Review

Ruth Maramis

FlixChatter Film Blog

This is a pretty conventional biopic for such an avant-garde artist, but Phoebe Dynevor proves she's a versatile actress, and the beautiful costumes + set pieces should please period drama fans.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jul 6, 2023

Full Review

Danny Brogan

Common Sense Media

Like the colorful designs that gave Cliff her reputation, this is a film with plenty of gloss that has no interest in the cracks and shades of gray of real life.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 8, 2021

Full Review

Aine O'Connor

Sunday Independent (Ireland)

History is not just about the big moments. There are so many smaller events and lesser-known people, especially women, who shape the world in which we live. Claire McCarthy's film is about one such woman.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 18, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Clarice Cliff (Phoebe Dynevor) is a vivacious young factory worker in the industrial British midlands of the 1920s. Her creativity and ambition drives her to move factory to factory, despite the financial impact on the household she shares with her widowed mother Ann (Kerry Fox) and youngest sister Dot (Darci Shaw). Bursting at the seams with ideas for colors and shapes, Clarice takes more and more dangerous risks -- but she manages to stay one step ahead of the workhouse and impress the eccentric factory owner Colley Shorter (Matthew Goode) on the way with her talent and innovation. Apprenticed to renowned Art Designer Fred Ridgeway (David Morrissey) and with support from Colley and other women in the factory, Clarice fights her way through to design the unprecedented Art Deco 'Bizarre' range. In the middle of the Great Depression, she ensures the factory's survival and her future as one of the greatest Art Deco designers and a household name.

Director: Claire McCarthy
Executive Producer: Laura Grange, Paul Ashton, David Gilbery, Charlie Dorfman, Marlon Vogelgesang
Screenwriter: Claire Peate
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English