Starring:
Dan Stevens, Dominic Cooper, Emily Browning, Hattie Morahan
2013
UK, Cert 15, 1h 40m
Film £5. Doors and bar open 7:00pm, Film 7:30, Supper 9:30
Please book latest by Sunday 15th September – pay at the door.
Bookings: filmnight@rockbournevillagehall.org.uk
or phone: Lucy Matthews 01725 518695
“I loved this picturesque and pacey film, raw emotion surging about on the surface and in the depths, as vivid and visually complex as a Munnings masterpiece.” Andrew Lambirth, The Spectator
Scandal, skinny dipping and horses; what more could a Rockbourne film night regular want from a film? Adapted from his novel by Jonathon Smith this lovely film captures those sunny days before the first World War when the ‘goings on’ of a group of painters could appall the natives of this gorgeous stretch of Cornwall, known as Lamorna.
The ‘Newlyn School’ of artists flourished at the beginning of the last century. Their leader was the incendiary (Sir) Alfred Munnings, played in the film by rising British star Dominic Cooper (Mama Mia, An Education). His paintings of horses now fetch millions. Probably the finest painter among them was (Dame) Laura Knight, at present the subject of an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, here played by the wonderful Hattie Morahan.
A complex love triangle ensues when the tyro, very fine, impressionist painter Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning, – The Sleeping Beauty) joined the group. The land agent, Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens in his first starring role after Downton Abbey) a steady, decent sort of chap, competes for her affection and seems no match for the saturnine Munnings. This is a true and deeply moving story played out against the timeless beauty of the Cornish coast, in the approaching shadow of The Great War. Filmed in the very places that the scandalous events took place, this is a film for those who love British costume drama at its best. John Crome
Next films (provisional): Oct 16 The Great Gatsby; Nov 20 Behind the Candelabra