Serena

The long-awaited Serena is finally drawing near. Over two years since filming finished, the American drama – which marks the third collaboration between Hollywood superstars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper – is to receive its premiere at the London Film Festival on 13th October, followed by a UK release on the 24th.
Directed by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, known for Brothers (2004), After the Wedding (2006), and Oscar-winning In a Better World (2010), and with costumes designed by Signe Sejlung the film is set in Depression-era North Carolina and is based on the best-selling Ron Rash novel of the same name.
With support from British actors Toby Jones, Rhys Ifans and Sean Harris, the story follows George Pemberton, played by Cooper (American Hustle, The Hangover), a logging magnate who marries intelligent, gutsy and beautiful Serena, played by Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, Winter’s Bone). All starts well as the pair begin to make big plans for the business. However, Pemberton’s timber empire soon falls into jeopardy when he discovers that Serena is unable to bear children - just as she discovers his secret, a child he fathered out of wedlock.
The project, which was first announced as directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Angelina Jolie, marks Bier’s third film in as many years (including A Second Chance, starring Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and also screening at the London Film Festival this year). Catastrophe is always round the corner in Bier’s work, which typically ruminates on family, tragedy and atonement. The director attributes this to her Jewish heritage and family-oriented upbringing; she describes her family, who fled Germany in 1933 when “society turned against them” as giving her “as a sense of identity” and explains that “being Jewish has generated an extremely strong sense of the importance of family… All my movies are about that.”
The rumour mills have been turning as to why Serena has taken so long to hit our screens. We’re hoping that it’s down to Bier’s self-described perfectionism and that this latest Lawrence and Cooper collaboration will mark another Oscar-worthy triumph.