Sunset Song (2015)

The daughter of a Scottish farmer comes of age in the early 1900s.

Director:

Terence Davies

Writers:

Lewis Grassic Gibbon (novel), Terence Davies (screenplay)

Stars:

Ken Blackburn, Mark Bonnar, Stuart Bowman

2 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ken Blackburn	...	Galt
Mark Bonnar	...	Reverend Gibbon
Stuart Bowman	...	Alex Mutch
Emily-Jane Boyle	...	Christine
Ewan Comes	...	Newborn Guthrie Twin
Maelly Comes	...	Newborn Guthrie Twin
Ann Overstall Comfort	...	Mrs. Hemans (as Ann Comfort)
Callum Adams	...	Alec Guthrie (as Callum Davies)
Agyness Deyn	...	Chris Guthrie
Ron Donachie	...	Uncle Tam
Tom Duncan	...	McIvor
David Ganly	...	Tinker
Niall Greig Fulton	...	John Brigson
Caelan Fyfe	...	Toddler Ewan (as Gaetan Fyfe)
Jack Greenlees	...	Will Guthrie

Storyline

Spanning the 1910 decade, six years in the life of a girl named Chris, one of the numerous children of a tyrannical Scottish farmer. Years of high hopes and of disillusionment, of mirth and sorrow, of dreaming and toiling, of sweetness and violence, of love and hate, of peace and war. And in the end, the dignified loneliness of a new Chris, a woman who seems to have gone through several lives, now and forever as one with the land, the earth eternal...

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Plot Keywords:

1910s | farmer | scottish | love | female frontal nudity | 

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Taglines:

An epic story of love, loss and the land that inspired it all.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and some violence

Details

Country:

UK Luxembourg

Language:

English Scots

Release Date:

4 December 2015 (UK)

Also Known As:

A Canção do Pôr do Sol

Filming Locations:

New Zealand

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,995, 15 May 2016

Gross USA:

$159,714

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,302,482

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hurricane Films, Iris Productions, SellOutPictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Spanish dubbing mix)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peter Mullan also played a farmer on the eve of the Great War in War Horse (2011).

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Goofs

At about 55:50 minutes in the main characters are standing talking in the high street as a flock of sheep moves past them. There are two of what appear to be large steel bollards on either side of the road. As the sheep progress through the scene the left hand bollard on screen wobbles as the sheep come into contact with it.

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Connections

Featured in Film 2017: Episode #44.12 (2015)

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Soundtracks

AULD LANG SYNE
(Traditional song, Lyrics from a poem written by Robert Burns )

User Reviews

Wedding dinner by candlelight, mist, the morning sun, . . .

Firelight, swells of the North Sea, hayfields, rain, a wedding dinner by candlelight, mist, the morning sun, green mountains, Scottish song, clothing fashions from a hundred years ago and the writing of Lewis Grassic Gibbon, are brought to life. It is said that nothing but the land endures, yet there is something about each of these characters – good and bad - that endures too. Intriguing characters include a sensual, pretty and bright young woman who loves the landscape and dreams of a better life, a strict and abusive farm family patriarch in desperate need of an intervention and anger management classes, and a young man turned bitter and cowardly by war and violence. The story is told mostly through the eyes of the young woman, Chris, as she grows and experiences hardships as well as bliss. It is amazing to witness her transformations through the people she comes in contact with, the land and the emotions she feels. Kindness, love, nature and light endure when we let them. Anger, violence and hatred make them the lovelier for that.

The director is obviously extremely experienced and capable at such historic United Kingdom stories. He invigorates the senses in sight and sound, and we even almost feel the emotions of the characters and smell the hay, mist and mud. I suppose this is the "memory realism" style I read about. Remarkably, and appropriately to the themes of the story, Davies does not shy away from the rawness of anger, sex, nudity and violence. He is equally adept at bringing out the beauty of the story as well as its darkness. There is exemplary acting here especially by the leads, yet with the exception of the one who played Ewan (each of his moods seemed the same to me). For those few who can differentiate between the sectors of Scotland, the film takes place in Northeast Scotland. The excitement of another "Florida premiere" was palpable (LOL!) at this 2016 Miami International Film Festival screening.