''Far From the Apple Tree'' is a Scottish fantasy film that was directed by

Grant McPhee Grant McPhee is a Scottish film director, cinematographer and writer. His films include the music documentaries ''Big Gold Dream'', ''Teenage Superstars'' and the drama, ''Far From the Apple Tree'' starring Sorcha Groundsell. He won the prestig ...

and produced by

Tartan Features Tartan Features is a filmmaking network and distribution platform based in Scotland. It supports the production of micro-budget feature films. Origin Tartan Features was established in 2013. Its name is in reference to the defunct "Tartan Shorts ...

. The film stars

Sorcha Groundsell Sorcha Groundsell (born 15 February 1998) is a Scottish actress. She starred in the Netflix series ''The Innocents (TV series), The Innocents'' (2018) and the independent film ''Far From the Apple Tree'' (2018). Early life Her father was a gr ...

as a struggling artist who finds herself facing strange events after being hired by a renowned and sinister visual artist.

Plot

Far from the Apple Tree follows the story of Judith, a young artist at the start of her career, who lands a job with a renowned visual artist called Roberta Roslyn. She lands her dream job when she is spotted by Roberta at one of her art gallery exhibitions and hired to help catalogue her work. Whilst on the job she is shocked to see a girl who closely resembles her repeatedly show up in Roberta's artwork. She learns that this girl is her boss's missing daughter Maddy. As she delves into the mystery of the missing girl, new persona begins to emerge within her. Becoming aware of her unwinding nature, Judith must decide between staying on in her job or continue down the rabbit hole and risk losing who she is.

Cast

as Judith * Victoria Lidelle as Roberta Roslyn * Scarlett Mack as Anne-Marie * Margaret Fraser as Dawn * Lynsey-Anna Moffat as Suzy

Development

McPhee shot the film on multiple formats, which included "35mm, 16mm, 8mm, home processing, betamax, Pixelvision and Red. All with no VFX being used." He has described ''Far From the Apple Tree'' as a "Pop-Art fairytale", likening it to '' The Owl Service'' or ''The Stone Tape''. McPhee also cited Redemption's VHS releases such as ''

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders Valerie may refer to: People *Saint Valerie (disambiguation), a number of saints went by the name Valerie *Valerie (given name), a feminine given name Songs *"Valerie", a 1981 song by Quarterflash, from ''Quarterflash'' *"Valerie", a 1982 son ...

'' as a major influence on the film. The decision was made to work completely independently as opposed to seeking out outside funding, in order to "do something that exec producers and financiers would likely never fund".

Release

''Far From the Apple Tree'' premiered at the Manchester Film Festival in March 2019, after which it received a cinematic run at the DCA in May of the same year. In 2020 ''Far From the Apple Tree'' released to DVD in the United Kingdom and United States through Redemption Films and Kino Lorber, respectively. The soundtrack to the film was released on vinyl through Glass Modern Records. The BFI released and distributed Far From the Apple Tree on their BFI player platform and Amazon.

Reception

Eye for Film gave the film 4.5/5 stating: "An excellent piece of work. No doubt some viewers will be turned off by its unwillingness to compromise for the sake of accessibility, but others will fall in love." Nerdly was less favorable in their review, rating it 2/5 and writing that "Ultimately, ''Far From The Apple Tree'' is a case of style over substance, except the style is just as disappointing as the substance. There’s no shortage of ideas here, it’s just that they never coalesce in a satisfactory manner, leaving the film devoid of tension and chills, despite its suitably creepy premise." The film was also positively reviewed by Horrified Magazine and Warped Perspective.

References

External links

* * {{officialwebsite, https://www.yearzerofilmmaking.com/farfromtheappletree 2010s English-language films