Charlie Chan Says:
Aspiring teacher-turned-farmer done for
When beloved husband lost in Great War
Dirge: a song or piece of music that is considered too slow, miserable or boring. Sunset Song: see dirge. After a promising opening in which aspiring teacher Chris Guthrie (Agyness Deyn) reclines in a field of corn under a clear blue sky as she contemplates “what fools [men and women] are beneath their clothes” while back at the ranch her God-fearing father John (Peter Mullan) rules with an iron fist as he beats her younger brother Will (Jack Greenlass) for taking the Lord’s name in vain and forces her long-suffering mother Jean (Daniela Nardini) to satisfy his sexual urges despite her protestation that “four in a family is fine, there’ll be no more”, writer and director Terence Davies quickly – or, to be more accurate, glacially – loses his way.
Chris’s transformation from grubby caterpillar to beautiful butterfly takes an eternity to metamorphose and although fashion model-turned-actor Agyness Deyn makes a good fist of the role and the challenges of the Doric accent (only the supporting actors in minor parts truly impress on that front), she is far too fair of face and slight of build to portray a weather-beaten woman of the land for whom tattie howking and peat burning is as commonplace as sticking her hands up a calving cow’s shuck! By contrast, the transformation of her love-at-first-sight partner Ewan Tavendale (Kevin Guthrie) from doting husband to battle-scarred solider is all too sudden and melodramatic. One minute he is gazing forlornly into her eyes, next he is howling at the moon and mounting her from behind.
The pace freezes to a standstill as the camera lingers far too long on a series of weary lamentations, fawning kisses and mundane exchanges which state the bleeding obvious (she’s dead, he’s born, they’re married, we’re off to war) where a suggestive glance or silent image would have sufficed. And there are far too many bloated scenes which should have been shortened by the editor’s shears or better still found a permanent home on the cutting room floor. None more so than Chris’s torturously long labour in which she screams like a banshee for what seems like nine months while the camera zooms in on her husband’s anguished face. The phrase “gilding the lily” springs to mind.
Thankfully, through the gathering storm clouds burst rays of bright sunshine. Albeit briefly. The principal actors are in fine form, particularly Kevin Guthrie, Jack Greenlees and the ever-brilliant Peter Mullan whose magnetic presence is sorely missed when his character succumbs to a series of strokes. It’s refreshing to see jobbing actors such as Linda Duncan McLaughlin as Auntie Janet and Trish Mullin as Mistress Melon not only get a turn but rise to the occasion. The latter of whom delivers one of the rare comic lines superbly. “Is this the list for the food?” she enquires incredulously, after Chris and Ewan fork out a small fortune for their wedding. “You’ve ordered enough to feed the French. You’ll have no silver left.” And the cinematography is stunning in its natural simplicity.
Unfortunately, the wonderful prose of Lewis Grassic Gibbon which features sparingly in both narrative and dialogue form (“There are lovely things in the world. Lovely that didn’t endure and the lovelier for that.”) is lost to the glacial pace and bloated writing of director Terence Davies who after a promising opening has created a visual feast starved of drama. “Oh, but that Spring was long!” says Chris wearily as she awaits the return of her husband from the Great War. So was the film!
Verdict: 2/5
By Peter Callaghan
Director: Terence Davies
Writer: Terence Davies
Cast: Agyness Deyn, Kevin Guthrie, Peter Mullan, Jack Greenlees,
Daniela Nardini, Ian Pirie, Linda Duncan McLaughlin, Trish Mullin,
Ron Donachie, Niall Greig Fulton, David Ganly, Tom Duncan
Release: 4 Dec 2015 Rating: 15 Running Time: 135 mins
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