Oh dear. They tried, really really hard. But.
It just doesn't work. Everyone tries but Lily James and Armie Hammer, although good actors generally, here just leave you not caring.(Lily James is also way too old and adult for the role, she can't pass for a "young girl".) At times it's overwrought - the fault of the writing/directing, not the actors. Kirsten Scott Thomas on the other hand is the only one who seems to know what to do with her role. Also, what's with the wardrobe for Lily James in the Monte Carlo scenes, how did she afford all those outfits?
The 1997 version with Emilia Fox, Charles Dance and Diana Rigg was better although not really great.
The 1979 version with Joanna David (Emilia Fox's mother), Jeremy Brett and Anna Massey was a worthy production and well worth watching.
But 1940 version by Alfred Hitchcock with Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier and Judith Anderson is just so well done that you wonder why anyone bothers to even try to do a remake. Maybe because the 1979 version did work so well.
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