''Tylluan Wen'' is a

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

drama produced in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in 1997 by Ffilmiau'r Nant and directed by Angharad Jones. It is set in

Llan Ffestiniog Llan Ffestiniog, also known as Ffestiniog or simply Llan, is a village in Gwynedd (formerly in the county of Merionethshire), Wales, lying south of Blaenau Ffestiniog. Llan Ffestiniog is the older of the two communities, with its church and othe ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

, as an adaptation of Angharad Jones' novel ''Y Dylluan Wen'' (''The White Owl''). The film is studied as part of the Welsh literature

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

course. The village scenes were filmed in

Talysarn Tal-y-sarn () is a village in the slate quarrying Nantlle Valley in Gwynedd, Wales, next to Penygroes. It is part of the community of Llanllyfni and includes some of Llandwrog. The ward had a population of 1,930 at the 2011 census, the built ...

, and scenes are set in

Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,00 ...

, and on the Conwy Valley Railway. The Castell

Blodeuwedd Blodeuwedd (), (Welsh "Flower-Faced", a composite name from ''blodau'' "flowers" + ''gwedd'' "face"), is the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Welsh mythology. She was made from the flowers of broom, meadowsweet and oak by the magicians Math and Gwy ...

scene was filmed at

Tomen y Mur Tomen y Mur is a First Century AD Roman fort in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, Wales. The fortification, which lies on the slope of an isolated spur northeast of Llyn Trawsfynydd, was constructed during the North Wales campaigns of governor Gnaeus Juliu ...

Roman Fort,

Trawsfynydd Trawsfynydd (; Welsh for "across hemountain") is a linear village in Gwynedd, Wales, near Llyn Trawsfynydd reservoir, and adjacent to the A470 north of Bronaber and Dolgellau and 10 km (6 miles) south of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The total com ...

, near the coastal town of

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...

. The film was broadcast on the Welsh-language television channel S4C.

Characters and actors

Storyline

Martha arrives at Y Llan via train, a small town, situated deep in North Wales where the main character grew up (filmed at Blaenau Ffestiniog rail-station). Travelling from Ireland, and leaving her baby behind, Martha stays with the local primary school's headmaster, Ifor Preis and his wife, Meri. Although claiming to return to her home-town of Llan for the sake of coming home, she comes seeking vengeance over her father's death. After an incident when Martha was in school, involving a spilled glass of milk, Ifor punished her and a school friend, Roger by caning them repeatedly. Returning home in tears, Martha's father demands to know what is wrong and discovers the marks from the cane. Furious, her father begins his journey to the school to confront the harsh headmaster. Abruptly her father is hit by a car on the way there, killing him, Martha witnesses this. She believes that Ifor Preis is responsible for her father's death and she wants so get revenge on him. After developing a friendship with Meri and their child Gwen, Martha tricks the family by manipulating Ifor to have an affair with her. At a concert held in the school, Martha reveals to the whole village including Meri about the affair, destroying Ifor's status in the community. Her identity is kept hidden until the very end, where her real name Eirlys, is revealed. She ends up killing Ifor by throwing a harp on him after he attempted to choke her. Gwen witnesses this, and immediately runs outside, towards the road. Martha throws herself in front of an incoming car, driven by a drunken Roger, in order to save Gwen, killing Martha suddenly. A white owl lands on the bonnet of the car, then on Martha to signify the

Mabinogi The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

Tale of Blodeuwedd.

References

Welsh films Welsh-language films Television in Wales {{tv-drama-film-stub