Cold Comfort Farm (1995)

In England in the early 1930s, twenty-year-old Flora Poste, recently orphaned, and left with only one hundred pounds a year, goes to stay with distant relatives on Cold Comfort Farm. ... See full summary »

Director:

John Schlesinger

Writers:

Malcolm Bradbury (screenplay), Stella Gibbons (novel)

Stars:

Eileen Atkins, Kate Beckinsale, Sheila Burrell

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eileen Atkins	...	Judith Starkadder
Kate Beckinsale	...	Flora Poste
Sheila Burrell	...	Ada Doom
Stephen Fry	...	Mybug
Freddie Jones	...	Adam Lambsbreath
Joanna Lumley	...	Mrs. Mary Smiling
Ian McKellen	...	Amos Starkadder
Miriam Margolyes	...	Mrs. Beetle
Rufus Sewell	...	Seth Starkadder
Ivan Kaye	...	Reuben Starkadder
Jeremy Peters	...	Urk
Maria Miles	...	Elfine Starkadder
Christopher Bowen	...	Charles Fairford
Louise Rea	...	Meriam Beetle
Sophie Revell	...	Rennet

Storyline

In England in the early 1930s, twenty-year-old Flora Poste, recently orphaned, and left with only one hundred pounds a year, goes to stay with distant relatives on Cold Comfort Farm. Everyone on the gloomy farm is completely around the twist, but Flora tries to sort everything out.

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Plot Keywords:

farm | 1930s | secret | strong female lead | strong female character | 

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Taglines:

She discovered a new branch of her family tree... the one with all the nuts.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief sensuality and language

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Em Busca da Felicidade

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,139,000, 19 July 1996

Gross USA:

$5,596,906, 4 October 1996

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Films, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Thames International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Towards the end of the film, Judith Starkadder can be seen reading tarot cards. The one that she has in her hand is "the Sun". This is considered to represent "earthly happiness" in tarot interpretation.

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Goofs

Flora and Amos walk out of the farmstead to go to church. There are buildings and trees all around. Their conversation is continuous, but the next scene shows them walking straight up through a wide open field of grass with grain fields in the background. There's not a building in sight, and the only trees are in the far distance.

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Quotes

Ada Doom: Who will care for Feckless, Aimless, Graceless and Pointless?

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Connections

Referenced in Siskel & Ebert: Jungle 2 Jungle/The Daytrippers/Kama Sutra/Good Luck/Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets (1997)

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Soundtracks

Tara's Theme
Composed by Max Steiner
Published by MCPS/Bourne Inc.
Performed by The London Festival Orchestra and Chorus

User Reviews

extremely funny

Absolutely terrific movie is an interesting take on the popular theme of people who come into a mess of unhappiness and create joy. Often these movies rely on a central character who is magical, or has great charm and a love for life, but Flora achieves her ends through pure English practicality, and it is very amusing to see someone approaching misery as a mess to be cleaned up. Flora, excellently portrayed by Beckinsdale, is pretentious and rather smug but also well-meaning and likable. In a way she seems to be the personification of British imperialism, although that's probably a bit of a stretch.

Much of the fun of the movie is the ridiculous level of misery and squalor represented by Cold Comfort Farm, which is a parody of the sort of grim worlds one can find from writers like Dickens. Eileen Atkins does a great job, but then they all do. The only real weak point in the movie is Mybug, who seems completely unnecessary. Perhaps he was a significant character who served some purpose in the novel, but here he is just this annoying peripheral character, and had he been cut entirely out of the movie it would have been all the better for it (although I generally like Stephen Fry). In spite of that, an excellent film.