My, but it's grim up north. Downtrodden young farmer Johnny (Josh O'Connor, currently most famous for his role in ITV's adaptation of Gerald Durrell's memoires of boyhood animal abuse in 'The Durrells') works on his family's bleak, debt-ridden farm in Yorkshire. The only other human occupants are his father (Iain Hart) whom, frustrated and embittered by the debilitating effects of a stroke, belittles Johnny's every effort; and his grandmother (Gemma Jones), a woman who has raised withering disapproval to an artform. Johnny has only two escapes - getting bladdered in the local pub; and having quick, frantic homosexual couplings with strangers (the kind of sex that involves hardly any removal of clothing and spitting on the bottom of the, um, bottom).
But then, against Johnny's protestations that he can cope with the work, a migrant worker is hired ("the only bugger who applied") to assist during lambing season. Gheorghe (Alec Secăreanu) turns out to be the smoulderiest Romanian you ever did see. He's also kind, gentle, wise and understanding. He even proves to be a dab hand at skinning a lamb, as is seen in leg-crunching detail - vegetarians prepare to feel smug! For how long will Johnny be able to resist the charms of this romantic Romanian hero?
Gheorghe's lack of flaws was pointed out to writer/director Francis Lee at the preview screening I attended at the British Film Institute (who helped with the film's funding). The best Lee (wearing what I honestly at first thought was a false beard - when oh when will this hipster fad end?!) could come up with was Gheorghe "can't drive a tractor". But lack of tractor-handling abilities aside, Gheorghe's seeming perfection is unbelievable in what is otherwise a very down-to-earth production, and thus a bit of a flaw for the film. Another flaw is Cheltenham boy O'Connor's Yorkshire accent, which is distracting when it wavers (very occasionally he sounds more like he's just stepped off the set of 'EastEnders' than that of 'Emmerdale'). But O'Connor should be proud of the restrained way in which he portrays Johnny's gradual flowering from closed-off, unlikeable human being - it is totally believable. Secăreanu is given less to do other than be perfect husband material, but he deserves congratulations for delivering so well lines in what is, presumably, his second language.
All-in-all this is a film that, although not perfect, is certainly worth seeing, as a study of the hope offered by love and how that love is often put at risk.
But then, against Johnny's protestations that he can cope with the work, a migrant worker is hired ("the only bugger who applied") to assist during lambing season. Gheorghe (Alec Secăreanu) turns out to be the smoulderiest Romanian you ever did see. He's also kind, gentle, wise and understanding. He even proves to be a dab hand at skinning a lamb, as is seen in leg-crunching detail - vegetarians prepare to feel smug! For how long will Johnny be able to resist the charms of this romantic Romanian hero?
Gheorghe's lack of flaws was pointed out to writer/director Francis Lee at the preview screening I attended at the British Film Institute (who helped with the film's funding). The best Lee (wearing what I honestly at first thought was a false beard - when oh when will this hipster fad end?!) could come up with was Gheorghe "can't drive a tractor". But lack of tractor-handling abilities aside, Gheorghe's seeming perfection is unbelievable in what is otherwise a very down-to-earth production, and thus a bit of a flaw for the film. Another flaw is Cheltenham boy O'Connor's Yorkshire accent, which is distracting when it wavers (very occasionally he sounds more like he's just stepped off the set of 'EastEnders' than that of 'Emmerdale'). But O'Connor should be proud of the restrained way in which he portrays Johnny's gradual flowering from closed-off, unlikeable human being - it is totally believable. Secăreanu is given less to do other than be perfect husband material, but he deserves congratulations for delivering so well lines in what is, presumably, his second language.
All-in-all this is a film that, although not perfect, is certainly worth seeing, as a study of the hope offered by love and how that love is often put at risk.