''Sunset Song'' is a 2015 British
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
written and directed by
Terence Davies
Terence Davies (born 10 November 1945) is an English screenwriter, film director, and novelist, seen by many critics as one of the greatest British filmmakers of his times. He is best known as the writer and director of autobiographical films ...
and starring
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins; 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...
,
Peter Mullan
Peter Mullan (; born 2 November 1959) is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role in Ken Loach's ''My Name Is Joe'' (1998), for which he won Best Actor Award at 1998 Cannes Film Festival, 2000's '' The Claim'' and all th ...
and
Kevin Guthrie
Kevin Guthrie (born 21 March 1988) was a Scottish actor. His best known roles are Ally in '' Sunshine on Leith'' (2013), Ewan Tavendale in Terence Davies's '' Sunset Song'' (2015), and Abernathy in the first 2 Fantastic Beast films - ''Fanta ...
. It is an adaptation of
Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 1932
novel of the same name. It was shown in the Special Presentations section of the
2015 Toronto International Film Festival
The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's '' Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Na ...
and was released in the United Kingdom on 4 December 2015. The film follows Chris Guthrie, the daughter of a Scottish farmer in the early 1900s.
Plot
The film tells the story of an Aberdeenshire farm girl Chris Guthrie (
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins; 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...
). Chris is a sensitive writer and extremely good at school, particularly in languages. She lives with her domineering and abusive father, her warm and kind mother, her brother, and two younger siblings. After her father rapes her mother, resulting in the birth of twins, the family moves to a larger home in Kindraddie. While there Chris begins to study at college to become a teacher.
One day Chris's mother warns her of the horror of being raped and shortly after commits suicide, poisoning both herself and her twin newborns. Chris quits her studies and she and her brother commit to helping their father on the farm, while their two younger siblings go to live with their childless aunt and uncle. Chris's brother Will warns her not to let her father run her down the way he did with their mother and tells her his hope of running off to Canada.
Will does eventually leave, though for
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, though not before briefly introducing her to his friend, fellow farmer Ewan Tavendale.
Chris's father John eventually suffers a debilitating stroke putting the care of the farm entirely on Chris, especially after she learns that her brother has married and sailed for
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
with his new bride. He also tries to rape Chris, though because of his physical condition he is unable to. He dies shortly afterwards leaving all his property and money to Chris. Rather than sell off his possessions she decides to stay on the farm. Very quickly afterwards she and Ewan fall in love and decide to get married and Chris is relieved that she will be able to stay in Kindraddie.
Chris and Ewan have a loving marriage and she gives birth to a son, Ewan Jr, just as the start of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Ewan at first refuses to enlist, but knowing that conscription will soon be passed he eventually decides to go to war. Ewan comes back on leave a changed man. Violent and abrasive he rapes Chris and the two part on bad terms. Chris eventually receives mail informing her that Ewan is dead. She learns from her friend Chae that Ewan was executed as a deserter because he tried to return home to see Chris, devastated that he never got to kiss her goodbye the last time he saw her.
Cast
*
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins; 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...
as Chris Guthrie
*
Peter Mullan
Peter Mullan (; born 2 November 1959) is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role in Ken Loach's ''My Name Is Joe'' (1998), for which he won Best Actor Award at 1998 Cannes Film Festival, 2000's '' The Claim'' and all th ...
as John Guthrie, father of Chris
*
Kevin Guthrie
Kevin Guthrie (born 21 March 1988) was a Scottish actor. His best known roles are Ally in '' Sunshine on Leith'' (2013), Ewan Tavendale in Terence Davies's '' Sunset Song'' (2015), and Abernathy in the first 2 Fantastic Beast films - ''Fanta ...
as Ewan Tavendale
*
Jack Greenlees
Jack Greenlees is a Scottish actor, known for his roles as Craig Cooper in the BBC One Scottish crime drama television series ''Shetland'' (2016), as Justice Stuart Knox in the British-American period drama television series '' Harlots'' (2019) ...
as Will Guthrie
*
Daniela Nardini
Daniela Nardini (born 26 April 1968, Largs) is a Scottish actress who played Anna Forbes in the BBC Two television series ''This Life''. The role earned her a BAFTA Best Actress award in 1998 and also earned her a Scottish BAFTA. She won a se ...
as Jena Guthrie
*
Ian Pirie as Chae Strachan
*
Douglas Rankine as Long Rob
*
Mark Bonnar
Richard Mark Bonnar (born 19 November 1968) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Max in ''Guilt'', Duncan Hunter in '' Shetland'', Bruno Jenkins in ''Casualty'', Detective Finney in ''Psychoville'', DCC Mike Dryden in '' Line of Du ...
as Reverend Gibbon
*
Simon Tait as Dr. Meldrum
*
Niall Greig Fulton as John Brigson
*
Trish Mullin as Mistress Melon
*
Julian Nest as Mr. Semple, lawyer
*
Linda Duncan McLaughlin as Auntie Janet
*
Ron Donachie
Ronald Eaglesham Porter (born 26 April 1956), known professionally as Ron Donachie, is a Scottish actor. He is known for starring as DI John Rebus in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the Ian Rankin "Rebus" detective novels and for his supporti ...
as Uncle Tam
*
Jamie Michie as Mr. Kinloch
*
Niall Greig Fulton as John Brigson
*
Jim Sweeney as Preacher
*
Hugh Ross as School Inspector
*
David Ganly as Tinker
* Tom Duncan as McIvor
Production
The film features
Peter Mullan
Peter Mullan (; born 2 November 1959) is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role in Ken Loach's ''My Name Is Joe'' (1998), for which he won Best Actor Award at 1998 Cannes Film Festival, 2000's '' The Claim'' and all th ...
and
Kevin Guthrie
Kevin Guthrie (born 21 March 1988) was a Scottish actor. His best known roles are Ally in '' Sunshine on Leith'' (2013), Ewan Tavendale in Terence Davies's '' Sunset Song'' (2015), and Abernathy in the first 2 Fantastic Beast films - ''Fanta ...
, and was shot in New Zealand, Luxembourg and Scotland. It was produced by Iris Productions, SellOut Pictures and
Hurricane Films
Hurricane Films is a film production company based in Liverpool, England. It has produced both documentaries and fiction films at both Short film, short and Feature film, feature length. It is best known for Terence Davies' feature-length docume ...
and backed by
BFI
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
,
Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government.
The o ...
,
BBC Scotland and Luxembourg Film Fund.
Trailer
The official trailer was released as an exclusive with
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
on 10 November 2015.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunset Song
2015 films
2010s historical drama films
British historical drama films
English-language Luxembourgian films
Films about farmers
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Terence Davies
Films set in the 1900s
Films set in farms
2015 drama films
Films about rape
Films about domestic violence
Films set in Scotland
2010s English-language films
2010s British films