A Month in the Country, based on the novel by JL Carr - 8 out of 10

A Month in the Country, based on the novel by JL Carr
8 out of 10


The original material is much more rewarding than the film and included on The Guardian 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list.

Nevertheless, the adaptation is enjoyable and worthwhile.
The hero is Birkin, portrayed by the excellent Academy Award winner Colin Firth, here acting earlier in his career.

As he arrives in a village in rural England, the protagonist meets first Ellerbeck aka Solid Jim Carter, the railway station master.
Then he encounters the Reverend Mr. Keach, to talk about his assignment.

The hero would work on the walls of the church to uncover a painting that is hundreds of years old.
Well...if he finds a real fresco, it could be an effort that would bring to life only some portraits.

As he would say later, when he is sent to preach in another village nearby, a stroke of the brush too much and the figure is wiped out.
There is another young man working near the church, James Moon, played by a legend who needs to introduction- Kenneth Branagh.

James Moon is paid to find the remains of an ancestor, but he informs his new comrade that he is actually using his digging to find other remains, pottery, artifacts, objects of archeological value.
Both men share a dramatic experience from their participation in the World War.

Birkin is stuttering while Moon has an obsession with holes, feeling more secure in them and as a consequence digging one in the tent he lives in, near the church.
The station master Ellerbeck is very friendly, sends his daughter and son to the church, with a record player and invites the young protagonist to eat with the family on a regular basis.

He even sends him to...preach, in a nearby village, even if the astonished would be preacher says he has never done that in his life.
Furthermore, on different occasions we learn that he does not believe in God, maybe not anymore, after the horror, catastrophe and genocide of the World War.

When asked by Alice Keach if he believes in hell, the hero procrastinates by saying it depends on the definition and then he adds:

Hell on earth, yes.

Alice Keach is the fabulous, splendid wife of the reverend who makes Moon joke, or perhaps wonder seriously:

How did a man like that get a woman like this?

She seems to be the opposite of her consort, for where he comes across as rigid, cold, unfriendly even, voicing his opposition to the project of the restoration of the painting from the start, she seems to be serene, genial, sociable, gentle and angelic.
We keep waiting for something romantic to happen between her and Birkin.

There is every indication that they feel for each other and they would be suited perfectly.
Would this happen?

I will not say, for reasons of spoiler alert and I guess there is something else - I for one, did not like the outcome, albeit I knew it from the stupendous novel.