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IMDbPro

Cold Comfort Farm

  • TV Movie
  • 1995
  • PG
  • 1h 45m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
7.2K
YOUR RATING
Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
ComedyRomance

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.

  • Director
    • John Schlesinger
  • Writers
    • Malcolm Bradbury
    • Stella Gibbons
  • Stars
    • Eileen Atkins
    • Kate Beckinsale
    • Sheila Burrell
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    7.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • John Schlesinger
    • Writers
      • Malcolm Bradbury
      • Stella Gibbons
    • Stars
      • Eileen Atkins
      • Kate Beckinsale
      • Sheila Burrell
    • 77User reviews
    • 29Critic reviews
    • 82Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 BAFTA Award
      • 2 wins & 4 nominations total

    Photos30

    Kate Beckinsale in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Eileen Atkins in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Ian McKellen in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Joanna Lumley in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Kate Beckinsale and Rufus Sewell in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Kate Beckinsale, Rufus Sewell, Eileen Atkins, Ivan Kaye, Maria Miles, Jeremy Peters, Louise Rea, and Sophie Revell in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Kate Beckinsale and Joanna Lumley in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    John Schlesinger in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Kate Beckinsale, Ivan Kaye, Maria Miles, and Rupert Penry-Jones in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
    Kate Beckinsale and Ivan Kaye in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Eileen Atkins
    Eileen Atkins
    • Judith Starkadder
    Kate Beckinsale
    Kate Beckinsale
    • Flora Poste
    Sheila Burrell
    Sheila Burrell
    • Ada Doom
    Stephen Fry
    Stephen Fry
    • Mybug
    Freddie Jones
    Freddie Jones
    • Adam Lambsbreath
    Joanna Lumley
    Joanna Lumley
    • Mrs. Mary Smiling
    Ian McKellen
    Ian McKellen
    • Amos Starkadder
    Miriam Margolyes
    Miriam Margolyes
    • Mrs. Beetle
    Rufus Sewell
    Rufus Sewell
    • Seth Starkadder
    Ivan Kaye
    Ivan Kaye
    • Reuben Starkadder
    Jeremy Peters
    • Urk
    Maria Miles
    • Elfine Starkadder
    Christopher Bowen
    Christopher Bowen
    • Charles Fairford
    Louise Rea
    • Meriam Beetle
    Sophie Revell
    • Rennet
    Rupert Penry-Jones
    Rupert Penry-Jones
    • Dick Hawk-Monitor
    Angela Thorne
    Angela Thorne
    • Mrs. Hawk-Monitor
    Tim Myers
    • Mr. Hawk-Monitor
    • Director
      • John Schlesinger
    • Writers
      • Malcolm Bradbury
      • Stella Gibbons
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Director 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.
    • Goofs
      The 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 credits
      The 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".
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Twister/Captives/Boys/Dead Man/Cold Comfort Farm (1996)
    • Soundtracks
      I'm More Than Satisfied
      Composed by Fats Waller (as Waller) / Raymond Klages (as Klayes)

      Published by EMI Music/Redwood Music

      Arrangement by Robert Lockhart

    User reviews77

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    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.
    helpful•15
    1
    • MoviolaSteenbeck
    • May 14, 2007

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 10, 1996 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Nya vindar över Cold Comfort Farm
    • Filming locations
      • UK
    • Production companies
      • BBC Films
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
      • Thames International
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $5,682,429
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $66,427
      • May 12, 1996
    • Gross worldwide
      • $5,682,429
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 45 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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