December Bride (1991)

 

Today’s entry is a quiet Irish film set in the early 1900s.  Considering the setting and time period, there’s surprisingly little politics, but there’s women’s rights issues and Catholic vs. Protestant disputes to make up for it.  There’s also the lovely Ciarán Hinds, Captain Wentworth himself.

 

December Bride tells the story of Sarah Gilmartin, a young Irish woman.  To make a living, Sarah and her mother find work on a farm in a small village.  It’s a sleepy community, and the work seems to consist largely of fetching drinks and harvesting kelp, but Sarah likes it well enough.  It could be that she enjoys those particular activities, but it’s more likely to do with the farmer’s two adult sons.  Sarah feels drawn to both of them, and the village is soon filled with gossip about the shenanigans going on at the farm.

 

Thematically, the film feels rather like an Irish Chocolat.  Attractive woman with unconventional ideas about how women should behave, check.  Small town abuzz with rumors, check.  Judgment from and conflict with the local clergy, check.  Of course, there’s far less chocolate and far more Irish accents, so it depends on what you enjoy more.

 

PC doesn’t appear until the end of the film, as a preacher.  Based on his name, young Sorleyson, he’s presumably the son of the Rev. Sorleyson with whom Sarah clashes, but he’s not exactly an important character.  With no lines and hardly any screentime, he’s little more than a warm body stuck in front of the camera for a few scenes.

 

This happens sometimes when you work your way through an actor’s filmography, especially in the early years of their career.  Still, I don’t mind; it’s a good way to discover films I wouldn’t have sought out otherwise.  It doesn’t always pay off (go back far enough, and you’ll find that Peter Dinklage was in a few clunkers,) but sometimes you don’t even miss the actor who brought you to it (James McAvoy is in just one scene of Behind the Lines, and he’s only ever seen in silhouette, but that’s an excellent film on a fascinating subject.)  Here, I think it was pretty worthwhile.  I enjoyed the story and the acting, and I never regret shots of the Irish countryside.

 

Accent Watch

 

Presumably, his character is Irish like the others, but he doesn’t speak.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  It’s not the greatest film or the most original story, but it was a nice little movie with some good performances.

 

PC-wise – For completists only, for obvious reasons.

 

Warnings

 

Sex is an important part of the plot, but you don’t see anything.  Other than that, a scene of violence.