The Land Girls (1998)

Director:

David Leland

Writers:

Angela Huth (novel)
Keith Dewhurst (writer) ...

Release Date:

12 June 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The story of three young women and the events that would change their lives... The friendships that would stay with them forever... and the loves that would change their hearts.

Plot:

Three young women from very different walks of life join the women's land army during World War II and are sent to work together on a farm in Dorset and the experience changes their lives forever.

Plot Keywords:

Farm | England | Women's Land Army | Love | Countryside

Cast

Catherine McCormack	...	Stella
Rachel Weisz	...	Ag (Agapanthus)
Anna Friel	...	Prue (Prudence)
Steven Mackintosh	...	Joe Lawrence
Tom Georgeson	...	Mr. John Lawrence
Maureen O'Brien	...	Mrs. John Lawrence
Lucy Akhurst	...	Janet
Gerald Down	...	Ratty, Lawrence Farm Hand
Paul Bettany	...	Philip
Nick Mollo	...	Barry Hampton
Michael Mantas	...	Desmond
Nicholas Le Prevost	...	Agricultural Officer
Celia Bannerman	...	District Commissioner
Ann Bell	...	Philip's Mother
Nigel Planer	...	Gerald

Also Known As:

Trois Anglaises en campagne (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 | France:U | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:R | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Crowcombe Heathfield station, West Somerset Railway, Somerset, England, UK

Company:

Intermedia Films

Trivia:

The Reverend Alan Bennett, seen conducting the christening near the end of the film, is the actual Rector of the church where the scene was filmed.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Almost all windows in during the war were taped with what looks similar to masking tape to minimize flying glass in the event of bombing. This was not evident anywhere in the film, even in scenes in Southampton (which is even shown being bombed early in the film).

Quotes:

Stella: Where's Prue?
[Ag points towards the barn]
Stella: And where's Joe?
[Ag points towards the barn again]
Stella: I should have known.

Soundtrack:

The Holly and the Ivy

Subtle, low-key English WWII romance

Another very good example of an understated British flick being elevated by a strong cast into something worth notice. In a refreshing take on the WWII drama, the focus is on the ones who stayed behind in the war-torn south of England, like the farmers to feed the impoverished nation; the women to keep the factories running and, as in "The Land Girls", to work the land in place of the absent men.

Stephen Mackintosh, my favourite underrated Brit actor, gives the film's best performance as Joe, the farmer's son who wishes he was anywhere but home, but he's well supported by Catherine McCormack, Rachel Weisz and Anna Friel as the unfeasibly but mercifully smouldering girls of the Women's Land Army. Tom Georgeson brings gruff character as Mr Lawrence, the farmer, and check out an early Paul Bettany appearance.

Thousands of women found a new freedom in work during the War, but they were expected to return to their domestic, invisible lives once the men returned. "The Land Girls" is not cinema verité; and doesn't pretend to tackle the grimness my mother talks of in England in the 40s and 50s. But who cares? – when I want grim I'll watch a documentary; I'll settle back happily any day to watch fine actors in a quiet, 'little' film with gorgeous Dorset scenery (it really is that beautiful, visit if you can) and a tender story.

It will be too slow, too uneventful, for some. Perhaps they'd have preferred a blowsy Hollywood version, where Antonio Banderas plays the farmer's son and Renee Zellwegger the upper crust beauty (hooray for the ghost of a UK film industry). But I found it gentle and charming just as it was; and when the ingredients are so fine to begin with, that's good enough for me. If you like this sort of thing I recommend Powell & Pressburger's magical "Canterbury Tale".