Un mes en el campo

13. A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY (drama, 1987) Birkin, a young WW1 veteran, arrives in the sleepy town of Oxgodby assigned to paint the church. He suffers from nightmares since being shell-shocked. Birkin meets the beautiful Alice (Natasha Richardson), the wife of the local pastor. Though they're immediately attracted to each other, they know they can't be together. But his love for Alice proves a happy respite from his war ravanged life.

Critique: To doze off in a sleepy afternoon watching 'A Month in the Country' feels almost like being there. This beautifully shot, nostalgic look at youth's lost moments, conjures up deeply felt emotions. The town of Oxgodby seems to exist between reality and fantasy. Slowly slumbering away in its own ambiance, unaware of the world around it. Where dreamers go, and weary travelers stumble on their way.

Pat O'Connor's doughty direction may get a bit tedious at times, but it has to be taken in the context of the film's setting (1920s England). Though some scenes do lag in pace, this does not take anything away from the film's dreamy (dark) undertones which are its strong points.

Character conflict is its weakest, however, since most of the characters react passively to the town's underhand prejudice. The best enduring quality is Birkin's lost-love relationship with both the town and Alice.

QUOTE: "God? What God? There is no God?"

I adored the book by J. L. Carr, and was skeptical that Birkin's first person narrative could be conveyed on film. Firth brilliantly makes this internal landscape manifest, while the film provides a sumptuous external setting. All the lead cast strike an effective balance between intensity and restraint. Every time I view the movie, I see things that I hadn't noticed before.

I wish I had seen "A Month in the Country" on the big screen when it was released. The laserdisc looks good, though I wonder what I'm missing. Even though the laserdisc soundtrack is monophonic, it was striking enough to make a friend jump when we were viewed it.

This is a true gem of a film. Only those however who have an empathy for the destruction of World War One, and a sensitivity about how moving religious themes can be, will really appreciate the aspects of the film which make it timeless. It is deliberately slow and careful in its pace, and the contrasts between Church and Chapel, working and upper class, and social mobility makes it a film I have always found very moving. The use of the Schubert Mass as a musical backdrop at key points emphasises the cathartic journey Birkin makes. Indeed, his visit to the church as an old man demonstrates the way he has been cleansed of the mud of Flanders.

It is a movie like a good book, you want to cozy down with on a long winters night....it said more than it showed and it showed more than it said..the parting of Birkin and Moon mostly, Birkin, had me watching it several times,,what were the questions and the answers?...it reminded me of "Waiting for the Moon" with Linda Hunt...thanks

It's a love story about rebirth and self healing. The foundation of the plot seems very simple: a young man comes in a town to clean the wall of a church. With a subject like that it could be absolutely boring...but it's not. "Emotion" could be the word to describe it all, though "repressed emotion" would be even more accurate. It's a delicate movie, with thousands of details you might not see the first time; it's deep and truly is a masterpiece in its genre.

Of course to appreciate it you must love repertoire movies. It's not a blockbuster movie...far from that. You must be in a slow mood I guess to enjoy it.

This is the kind of movie I would like to keep in my collection: isn't it a pity that "anonymous" has probably sold his tape already? (I cannot find it in Montreal!)