Sunset Song
Davies’ seventh feature is both a faithful adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s esteemed 1932 Scottish novel and a potent testament to the bond between a people and their native land. It is the story of Chris Guthrie, a young woman of great promise who is constrained by familial duty and social convention. As embodied by Agyness Deyn’s fierce performance, Chris is a striking figure, standing out from her grim surroundings as if she were a light pointing the way towards the future. Arguably Davies’ most conventional film, SUNSET SONG nevertheless exhibits the exacting sensitivity to landscape and memory that defines all his work. The parish of Kinraddie is a lush, sun-dappled glen, emitting an almost spiritual force amidst the twin perils of poverty and war. Chris’s father (Peter Mullan) reflects the violence and patriarchal arrogance that is also part and parcel of old Scotland. Chris’s future husband Ewan (Kevin Guthrie), a man of warmth and good humor, offers a very different model of Scottish manhood, but he is warped beyond recognition by the horrors of World War I. Despite unspeakable hardship, Chris prevails, maintaining a dignity that belies her dire circumstances. (Michael Sicinski)
After the screening there is a talk with Terence Davies.
More info here.
- Agyness Deyn - Chris Guthrie
- Peter Mullan - Peter Guthrie, Chris' father
- Kevin Guthrie - Ewan Tavendale
- Jack Greenlees - Will Guthrie
- Daniela Nardini - Jena Guthrie
- Terence Davies
- Michael McDonough
- David Charap
- Gast Waltzing
- Andy Harris
- Uli Simon