A winning period picture.

The most startling thing here is Hugh Grant as a De Sade in luvvy's clothing. Grant embroiders him with impeccable details, while writer Charles Wood, adapting Beryl Bainbridge's novel, conveys the basics with admirable economy.

As a portrait of the company and its emotional tangles, An Awfully Big Adventure has a gritty authenticity... But as drama and melodrama, the movie stumbles.

The filmmakers appear to be aiming for laughs much of the time, and on this level their efforts fall completely flat.