Sunset Song
Go! A bleak but bountiful Celtic chronicle.
Unrelenting life of rural Scot.
Anyone who has taken English at a UK school knows the trials of facing a "set text". It's usually a classic novel; a masterpiece of literature, which gradually becomes the bane of hundreds of teenage lives in spite of its brilliance. Sunset Song, the 1932 work of Lewis Grassic Gibbon set in the Scottish highlands, falls comfortably into this category. Still studied today, the producers of the film version have won themselves a guaranteed audience for several decades, as well as a delighted collection of youthful minds who will delude themselves into believing that watching the movie will be sufficient preparation for their exams. With its December 4th release, Sunset Song is already looking like a a win-win for everyone.
It is about the early life of farm girl, Chris Guthrie (Ageness Deyn, Clash of the Titans, Pusher). Bright and ambitious, in the hills of Aberdeenshire, she works the land, dreaming of completing her education and becoming a teacher. As a youngster she faces her angry and abusive father, John (Peter Mullan; Tyrannosaur, War Horse), who treats his wife as an inglorious incubator for his spawn, and beats his son mercilessly for minor indiscretions. Gradually, Chris' relatives begin to depart or die and - for mostly better, but with worse still to come - she is left with the farm to herself. Soon, she meets a nice, well-preened, local boy; Ewan Tavendale (Kevin Guthrie, Sunshine on Leith) (who, to be clear, is not related to the fictional family of the film). They do the traditional thing and get married, tout suite. Just as everything seems to be improving, the first world war is announced, and the relentless cycle of her harsh life continues.
It is worth pointing out that life in Scotland wasn't (and isn't) necessarily quite as bad as Chris' across the board - this is a very particular set of fictional circumstances that so happen to be consistently harrowing. I have it on good authority that people in the glorious north are generally very decent. Also, while it is well-known and without debate that the Scottish accent is as melodic as the honeyed voices of angels singing acapella arrangements of Marvin Gaye ballads, for those who dinnae ken the accent weel, some of the more "vibrant" dialogue may be tricky to gather. This is through no fault of Manchester-born Deyn's Scottish accent which is decent enough to confirm that she would have at least made a far better Braveheart than Mel Gibson.
In Sunset Song, director Terence Davies (The House of Mirth, The Deep Blue Sea) has taken an aged epic and distilled it into several strong shots; distinctive hits of a chronological journey through Chris' teenage life. With so many dysfunctional family issues to swallow, the bitterest slurps from the initial and perhaps most traumatic period of Chris' life struggle to blend well for the first thirty minutes. The characters and their relationships feel under-explored and our understanding of their trauma is limited to Mullan's severe and convincing portrayal of John Guthrie's cruel acts against his relatives. The story rather stumbles over itself to get to the next relevant event, leaving us under-satisfied.
In Sunset Song, director Terence Davies (The House of Mirth, The Deep Blue Sea) has taken an aged epic and distilled it into several strong shots; distinctive hits of a chronological journey through Chris' teenage life. With so many dysfunctional family issues to swallow, the bitterest slurps from the initial and perhaps most traumatic period of Chris' life struggle to blend well for the first thirty minutes. The characters and their relationships feel under-explored and our understanding of their trauma is limited to Mullan's severe and convincing portrayal of John Guthrie's cruel acts against his relatives. The story rather stumbles over itself to get to the next relevant event, leaving us under-satisfied.
However, after around 30 minutes, each gulp becomes much more harmonised with its predecessor, and warms slightly with a degree of solid, Presbyterian romance. Deyn grows into the role with each passing scene, and her relationship with Guthrie's Ewan becomes the most compelling aspect of the film's two hours. Both perform with passion and power, ably modulating in the difficult ballad of hope yielding to despair. Aside from a slightly fleecy bum shot that Guthrie is unlikely to add to his showreel, the interaction between the pair is assured and engaging. Add to this some soaring shots of Scotland (a Scotland partly filmed in New Zealand) and a frequently lyrical script, Sunset Song becomes a poignant and atmospheric sketch of a tormented and tumultuous life.
So go. It may not cover the original novel to the extent that some may crave, but as a film in itself, it is a fair braw adaptation that will appeal to those far beyond the spotty faces of Scotland's schoolkids.
So go. It may not cover the original novel to the extent that some may crave, but as a film in itself, it is a fair braw adaptation that will appeal to those far beyond the spotty faces of Scotland's schoolkids.
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