IMDb RATING
7.2/10
7.2K
YOUR RATING
A recently orphaned young woman goes to live with eccentric relatives in Sussex, where she sets about improving their gloomy lives.A recently orphaned young woman goes to live with eccentric relatives in Sussex, where she sets about improving their gloomy lives.A recently orphaned young woman goes to live with eccentric relatives in Sussex, where she sets about improving their gloomy lives.
- Won 1 BAFTA Award
- 2 wins & 4 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector John Schlesinger had to pay for the blow-up from 16mm to 35mm, because neither the BBC, nor Thames Television, who owned the overseas rights, thought the movie would work in the theater, and therefore would not waste their money on the print. It was the fifth highest-earning British movie released in U.S. theaters that year.
- GoofsThe candlestick on breakfast table during the first breakfast scene changes places depending upon the shot.
- Quotes
Ada Doom: I saw something nasty in the woodshed!
Earl P. Neck: Sure you did, but did it see you, baby?
- Crazy creditsThe copyright at the end of this movie is listed as "MCMXV", which translates to 1915. The movie was copyrighted in 1995, so the numerals should read "MCMXCV".
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert: Twister/Captives/Boys/Dead Man/Cold Comfort Farm (1996)
- SoundtracksI'm More Than Satisfied
Composed by Fats Waller (as Waller) / Raymond Klages (as Klayes)
Published by EMI Music/Redwood Music
Arrangement by Robert Lockhart
Featured review
Laughter, Soaked in Nature's Fecund Blessing
"Child, child. If you come to this doomed 'ouse, what is there to save you?"- Judith Starkadder in COLD COMFORT FARM.
The "child" in question is the lone offspring of one Robert Poste (deceased) and, as we are soon to discover, Poste's progeny, Flora, is hardly one in need of saving. Orphaned in her budding womanhood, nettled by the golden orb of an unrealized literary career, Flora strikes out from the discerning (or snobbish) urban sophistication of London ( leaving behind her good friend Mary and Mary's invaluable manservant, Sneller) and heads for the bucolic splendor of the Sussex countryside to lodge with her relatives, the Starkadders, and find herself.
Robert Poste's child finds instead: a muck-begrimed tumbledown estate wherein resides a ready-for-Hollywood womanizer (Cousin Seth), an estate-coveting farmer (Cousin Reuben), a daffy romantic (Cousin Elfine), a too-loving mother (Cousin Judith), a 'vengeful god', proselytizing father (Cousin Amos), and an iron-willed matriarch (Greataunt Ada Doom). There's also a smattering of Lambsbreath (Adam) and a smidgen of Hawk-Monitor (Dick).
Inside the Starkadder fold Flora encounters a resistance to dish washing modernity (the twig versus the hand mop); the rumor of an unmentionable misdeed once perpetrated against her father; the oft-cited permanence of the Starkadders on their environs; and the matriarch's frequently mentioned trauma after having witnessed a particularly odious occurrence inside the outdoor log pile storage facility ("...something nasty in the woodshed"). Undaunted, Flora presents a cool brow and an almost impervious demeanor plus an extremely persuasive power to influence. Within COLD COMFORT FARM, where high fashion and applied scientific reasoning smash headlong into arrested sociological development and stunted personal/ familial growth, tear-inducing laughter is the order of the day.
As mentioned in the comments of others, Ms. Beckinsale, clad in her natty period togs and radiating a winsome, unflappable aura (while also projecting a strangely prepubescent vibe), hasn't had as good a role since Flora. Meanwhile, those master thespians, Freddie Jones, Ian McKellan, and the inimitable Eileen Atkins nearly go mad with delight as they burrow gleefully into their characters. Rufus Sewell's Seth smolders hilariously while Stephen Fry's Mybug, "soaked in nature's fecund blessing", blusters uproariously. This sort of comedy of manners and cultural collision required an intelligent, perceptive and witty director. John Schlesinger (DARLING, 1965) fit the bill gloriously.
The "child" in question is the lone offspring of one Robert Poste (deceased) and, as we are soon to discover, Poste's progeny, Flora, is hardly one in need of saving. Orphaned in her budding womanhood, nettled by the golden orb of an unrealized literary career, Flora strikes out from the discerning (or snobbish) urban sophistication of London ( leaving behind her good friend Mary and Mary's invaluable manservant, Sneller) and heads for the bucolic splendor of the Sussex countryside to lodge with her relatives, the Starkadders, and find herself.
Robert Poste's child finds instead: a muck-begrimed tumbledown estate wherein resides a ready-for-Hollywood womanizer (Cousin Seth), an estate-coveting farmer (Cousin Reuben), a daffy romantic (Cousin Elfine), a too-loving mother (Cousin Judith), a 'vengeful god', proselytizing father (Cousin Amos), and an iron-willed matriarch (Greataunt Ada Doom). There's also a smattering of Lambsbreath (Adam) and a smidgen of Hawk-Monitor (Dick).
Inside the Starkadder fold Flora encounters a resistance to dish washing modernity (the twig versus the hand mop); the rumor of an unmentionable misdeed once perpetrated against her father; the oft-cited permanence of the Starkadders on their environs; and the matriarch's frequently mentioned trauma after having witnessed a particularly odious occurrence inside the outdoor log pile storage facility ("...something nasty in the woodshed"). Undaunted, Flora presents a cool brow and an almost impervious demeanor plus an extremely persuasive power to influence. Within COLD COMFORT FARM, where high fashion and applied scientific reasoning smash headlong into arrested sociological development and stunted personal/ familial growth, tear-inducing laughter is the order of the day.
As mentioned in the comments of others, Ms. Beckinsale, clad in her natty period togs and radiating a winsome, unflappable aura (while also projecting a strangely prepubescent vibe), hasn't had as good a role since Flora. Meanwhile, those master thespians, Freddie Jones, Ian McKellan, and the inimitable Eileen Atkins nearly go mad with delight as they burrow gleefully into their characters. Rufus Sewell's Seth smolders hilariously while Stephen Fry's Mybug, "soaked in nature's fecund blessing", blusters uproariously. This sort of comedy of manners and cultural collision required an intelligent, perceptive and witty director. John Schlesinger (DARLING, 1965) fit the bill gloriously.
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- MoviolaSteenbeck
- May 14, 2007
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Nya vindar över Cold Comfort Farm
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $5,682,429
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $66,427
- May 12, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $5,682,429
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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