Shadows in the Sun

As a subtitler I watch around a dozen films a week, so when I started subtitling 'Shadows in the Sun' for TV, it was simply another 'job' that I had to finish by teatime. But as the film progressed, I found it utterly engrossing, subtle, nicely shot, and with a wonderful sense of place.

There are plenty of films that are set amid striking scenery, but they can often feel rather flat, as if the landscape is nothing more than a 2D backdrop. Not so with this film: you really feel like you're there, right in the middle of rural Norfolk. The air seems to hang thick with echoes of old conversations, poems read aloud, and the coos of woodpigeons. Shadows in the Sun really nails a certain, quiet sense of Englishness: something more usually steamrollered to a pulp by Love Actually et al.

Meditative family drama about healing old wounds as the family's matriarch is approaching her sunset. Jean Simmons, terribly feeble-she passed away less than a year after the film's release, gives a gentle but resolute performance. Nice that she could make her final bow above the title of a film that while it's not a masterpiece is a respectable showcase for her great often under-appreciated talent.

Made before his breakthrough this has Jamie Dornan as a young drifter who has been a companion to Jean before the arrival of her son and grandchildren. He's okay but the script fumbles his part and after a solid start his role loses focus and drops off into meaninglessness.

Not a great film, though it does have some beautiful settings, but if you're a fan of Miss Simmons worth catching for her lovely last performance.

James Wilby, fresh from a painful divorce, returns to his childhood home to visit his ailing mother, and to persuade her to sell the estate before she dies. When he arrives, he finds a young man, Jamie Dornan, has been keeping his mother company. Even though we know nor learn anything about him, Dornan becomes a fixture in each member of the family's life.

Jean Simmons plays the ailing grandmother. It's pretty sad to see her so frail, since she died the following year of lung cancer. The rest of the movie flounders about in the general vicinity of depression. Wilby is an absent father, Simmons is treated with disrespect, and both grandchildren are troubled and long for guidance. Unlike other dysfunctional family movies, there's nothing particularly devastating about their problems, which makes for a more realistic but less interesting story. Unless you really like these types of depressing movies, I'd skip this one.

Jean Simmons is remarkable in her role as an older woman living on her own and not wanting to be controlled by her son who wants to move her away from all she holds dear. At the center of the story is a young man she has befriended and who treats her and everyone with quiet respect. He changes how they each see their life and family even though he is an outsider and a bit odd, played by Jamie Dornan. The film can be slow, like walking with a grandparent when you are a kid. But it is worth it. I saw it with a ninety year old friend and she said "You better make some younger friends or when you are my age you won't have any." The Jean Simmons character was a great friend with an open mind. It was inspiring.

I saw this film tonight on the euro channel. It is thoroughly enjoyable. The story is touching. All of the actors are wonderful in their roles, especially Jean Simmons.

The cinematography of the English countryside is lovely. As an earlier reviewer said, you'll feel like you're in Norfolk. As a bonus, I'm now a lot more familiar with the poetry of W.B. Yeats.

Many viewers will connect with the central theme of the heartbreak of watching the decline of an aging parent. I give the screenwriter great credit for the way the subject is handled here. Watching this intelligent drama was a very pleasant experience. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.