Greek tragedy done Scottish style, Sunset Song is tortuous to sit through. This is Terence Davies’ (Distant Voices, Still Lives) intimate epic of tragedy and love set at the dawn of the Great War. It is about a young woman’s endurance against the hardships of rural Scottish life, based on a novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon and told with gritty poetic realism.
So, to the detail … the film takes place during the early years of the twentieth century, with the conflicts and choices a young woman experiences reflecting the struggle between tradition and change. Set in the rural community of Aberdeenshire, Sunset Song is driven by the young heroine Chris Guthrie (Agyness Deyn) and her intense passion for life, for the unsettling young farmer Ewan Tavendale (Kevin Guthrie) and for the unforgiving land. Chris is one of six children to John Guthrie (Peter Mullan); an authoritarian, mean-tempered father who treats his wife and eldest son Will (Jack Greenlees) particularly harshly. When mother passes away, two of the younger children go to live with their aunt and uncle in Aberdeen, leaving Chris and Will and her father to run the farm. Eventually, Chris marries Ewan – the pair very much in love. But that isn’t bound to last as the First World War breaks out and there is pressure on Ewan to enlist, which he does; but is brutalised by his army experience.
Sunset Song takes work on the part of the audience. I can’t say you come out feeling great because the subject matter is so dour. It is made all the more difficult because the film unfolds at such a slow pace, with the beautiful Scottish countryside not enough to quicken the heart. While you can admire Chris for putting up with such a troubled life for so long, I was also left asking: why didn’t she turn tail and run? A clever and diligent teenager, for a time she had ambition to be a teacher.
Agyness Deyn does a fine job capturing her heart and soul. Plaudits also go to Peter Mullan, whose portrayal of the unsympathetic father quickly incurs the hatred of the audience.
Sunset Song is painted as a slice of life reality piece, reflecting the times and the place. I was thinking ‘thanks goodness I wasn’t born then and there’. So, the movie has impact, but will appeal to only a select audience. I also struggled with some of the poetic and floral language which writer and director Davies’ uses to weave his tale of angst. An elongated running time of 2 hours 15 minutes doesn’t aid the cause either. Rated M, Sunset Song scores a 6 out of 10.
Director: Terence Davies
Cast: Agyness Deyn, Kevin Guthrie, Peter Mullan, Jack Greenlees
Release Date: 1 September 2016
Rating: M
Alex First
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television
