''The Last September'' is a 1999 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 ...

directed by

Deborah Warner Deborah Warner (born 12 May 1959) is a British director of theatre and opera, known for her interpretations of the works of Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Benjamin Britten and Henrik Ibsen. Early life Warner was born in Oxfordshire, England, t ...

and produced by Yvonne Thunder from a screenplay by

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry ...

. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by

Elizabeth Bowen Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London. Life ...

. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon,

Keeley Hawes Claire Julia Hawes (born 10 February 1976), known professionally as Keeley Hawes, is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including ''Our Mutual Friend'' (1998) and '' Tipping the Velvet'' (2002), Ha ...

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show ''Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

and

Lambert Wilson Lambert Wilson (born 3 August 1958) is a French actor, singer and activist. He is best known internationally for his portrayal of The Merovingian in ''The Matrix Reloaded'', ''The Matrix Revolutions'' and ''The Matrix Resurrections''. Biograph ...

. It was filmed in

Dowth Hall Dowth Hall is a Georgian country house and estate near Dowth in County Meath, Ireland. Built in 1760 for the Netterville family, the 420 acre estate occupies a large part of the archaeological site which makes up the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO Wo ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

along the banks of the

River Boyne The River Boyne ( ga, An Bhóinn or ''Abhainn na Bóinne'') is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newberry Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through C ...

Plot

Set in the early 1920s, Anglo-Irish landowners Sir Richard and Lady Myra Naylor reside in their country estate with their high-spirited niece, Lois, and their nephew Laurence during the twilight of British rule in southern Ireland. They are joined by the Montmorencys who hide the fact that they are presently homeless. Lois is being courted by a British officer stationed in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence. The arrival of Marda Norton causes an upheaval amongst all in the house as does an escaped commander of the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

who is on the run from local British soldiers and police.

Cast

* Maggie Smith as Lady Myra * Michael Gambon as Sir Richard Naylor *

as Lois Farquar *

as Gerald Colthurst *

as Hugo Montmorency *

Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE (born 14 December 1946) is an English-French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She also had a prolific career ...

as Francie Montmorency * Fiona Shaw as Marda Norton * Jonathan Slinger as Laurence Carstairs *

Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including three AACTA Awards (including AFI), three Logie Awards, ...

as Daventry * Tom Hickey as O'Brien *Gary Lydon as Peter Connolly *Emily Nagle as Livvy Connolly * Lesley McGuire as Mrs. Vermont

Reception

Writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', A. O. Scott noted Warner's direction "struggles against the arch politesse that too often characterizes the genre. She plunges into the forest with a hand-held camera and shoots her characters through windows, door frames and even the wrong end of a telescope in a heroic effort to trouble the placid surface of their lives, and to make her film resemble something other than an episode of ''Masterpiece Theater.''" Movie critic Roger Ebert gave the film two stars and wrote "The weakness of the movie is that these characters are more important as types than as people... The movie is elegantly mounted, and the house is represented in loving detail... I'm not sure the movie should have pumped up the melodrama to get us more interested, but something might have helped. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' compared it to a "hard-edged 'Masterpiece Theater'". The movie received a score of 42% from 24 reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Last September, The 1999 films 1999 drama films British drama films English-language Irish films Films based on Irish novels Films scored by Zbigniew Preisner Films set in country houses Films set in Ireland Films set in the 1920s Films shot in County Meath Irish War of Independence films Trimark Pictures films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films