Solomon & Gaenor (1999)

A tragic love story between a Jewish young man and a Welsh woman in the beginning of the century. The movie is mostly in English with parts in Welsh and Yiddish

Director:

Paul Morrison

Writer:

Paul Morrison

Stars:

Ioan Gruffudd, Nia Roberts, Sue Jones-Davies

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 6 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ioan Gruffudd	...	Solomon Levinsky
Nia Roberts	...	Gaenor Rees
Sue Jones-Davies	...	Gwen (as Sue Jones Davies)
William Thomas	...	Idris Rees
Mark Lewis Jones	...	Crad Rees
Maureen Lipman	...	Rezl
David Horovitch	...	Isaac
Bethan Ellis Owen	...	Bronwen
Adam Jenkins	...	Thomas
Cyril Shaps	...	Ephraim
Daniel Kaye	...	Philip
Elliott Cantor	...	Benjamin (as Elliot Cantor)
Steffan Rhodri	...	Noah Jones
Emyr Wyn	...	Reverend Roberts
Julian Lewis Jones	...	Wyn

Storyline

A young Jew in 1911 Wales tries to make his living by selling fabrics door to door, but to do so he must hide his nationality. On one of his sales he meets and falls in love with a demure young woman with a strong-willed father and a Jew-hating brother. The two fall in love and she becomes pregnant, but only then does she learn of his ethnic background. When anti-Jewish riots break out, the two are forced to flee and become separated.

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Plot Keywords:

character names as title | forenames as title | three word title | welsh | riot | 

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Taglines:

Their tragedy was to fall in love.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and a scene of violence

Details

Official Sites:

S4C Sony Pictures Classics

Country:

UK

Language:

English Welsh Yiddish

Release Date:

30 April 1999 (UK)

Also Known As:

Solomon & Gaenor

Filming Locations:

Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$165,485

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$165,485

Company Credits

Production Co:

APT Films, APT Productions, Arts Council of England

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Daniel Levy (who plays Rabbi Wolfe) is an Orthodox Rabbi, and at the time was the Rabbi of the Orthodox Synagogue in Cardiff.

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Quotes

Crad: Don't ask me to write it down for you because I can't.

User Reviews

Not so much of the Romeo and Juliet thing, please!

I have never really understood why so many stories of "star crossed" lovers are always compared to Romeo and Juliet, which, fair enough, was about families at odd with each other, but, in my opinion, Solomon and Gaenor is so much more. A really sad story about bigoted people who are just perpetuating a centuries old hatred of people who are different to themselves. The supposedly Christian people who should practise what they preach and the Jewish people who will not integrate for fear of losing something of themselves in the process is the real dilemma of this story. Solomon and Gaenor are the ultimate losers in this harsh Welsh world of miner's strikes and religious bigotry in the early years of the 20th century when everything was seen as back and white and there was no place for shades of grey inbetween. More people should have the opportunity to see this film which, as far as I know, was never shown in cinemas in Australia and only consigned to a late night viewing time on a little watched TV station, as there is a lesson to be learned from this really well acted film .