In my ideal world film origination and digital post would be the choice. During my time as film and sound editor and post production supervisor ensuring that a show print was free from dust printed in, scratches and other abrasions was a very full time job. Opticals (all those fades, dissolves, super titles and other everyday devices) were slow, expensive and not always exactly what the director wanted, thus sent back to the lab for more attempts. More exotic effects were the field of rare and very expensive technicians. Most of these effects are desk top procedures now and offer immediate results for approval.
It has to then become a saving to originate digitally.
"Vera Drake" may have been shot on 16mm, I do wonder how the post was done. It was always a huge compromise to work with 16mm magnetic film, poor frequency response and almost impossible to "fit" looped dialogue. 35mm magnetic film allowed the editor to adjust in increments of 1/96th of a second, 16mm 1/24th. I recall seeing a BBC feature film shot in 16mm and blown up for cinemas where the theatre had a sign up apologising for the sync of some of the dialogue.
These days (of retirement) I thoroughly enjoy the clean, unscratched, non weaving (watch a film print closely, they all weave to some degree) projected image of digital projection.
(but I get your point)
