This film made me (and my wife) laugh... the pathos and the humor both STILL work. The composition in the outdoor shots is excellent, and the work shows a lot of planning. (In one scene two hens scuttle across the road from left to right, as the farmer approaches a hidden intersection... he follows them to the right a few moments later. I would love to know how they got the hens to participate...) In some places the acting is a bit 'broad', but a lot is communicated by very slow pacing and a lot of subtlety -- in facial expressions, glances, and body language as well as the well-written title cards. (There could have been more of them, but the acting usually filled in well for the deficit). The title cards are written in dialect, which helps if one is familiar with the way in 'country-folk' talk in rural England. This film is worth seeing two or three times to catch the easily missed (almost subliminal) details...
Review of The Farmer's Wife
