THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 26, 1996 TAG: 9607260052
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 61 lines
IT MIGHT BE a good idea to have a nice cup of tea and a cucumber sandwich before seeing ``Cold Comfort Farm.'' It's oh-so-British, but with a difference: The movies makes fun of British literature - the so-called ``rural novel'' in general and, specifically, the works of D.H. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy.
Satire and farce, in this case, mix well.
You needn't worry about wearing tweeds. It's all very light and, after you get through the lengthy first 30 minutes or so, entertaining summertime fare. Essentially, it's a lesson in loosening up, no more than the city cousin vs. country kin yarn.
In the end, there is great joy in the reassurance that we all have the right to re-invent ourselves and, by golly, we CAN do it.
Flora Poste, a stylish flapper who is up on the latest fashions and dances, goes to Cold Comfort Farm to live with her country relatives because 1) she doesn't want to resort to anything so crass as getting a job, and, 2) she finds them ``interesting and appalling'' rather than ``just appalling.''
What she finds is a bunch of eccentric primitives who, in her opinion, need enlightening. Flora, you see, imagines herself a novelist and observes that she is like Jane Austen in that ``neither of us liked a mess.''
The grand ruler of the Starkadder farm family is the appropriately named Aunt Ada Doom, who hasn't come out of her room in 20 years because she ``saw something nasty in the woodshed.''
The wild-eyed Judith Starkadder (played by theatrical royalty Eileen Atkins) fears her. So does the rest of the family. Ian McKellen (outstanding in the recent ``Richard III''), the titular head, preaches fire and brimstone to his order of the Quivering Brethern. Son Seth (Rufus Sewell) sees himself as a suitable gift to any woman. Secretly, he'd like to be a movie star. Elfine (Maria Miles) dances about the woods in loose clothes and dreams of poetry.
Before long, Flora sets them all free. The film is held together by Kate Beckinsale's plucky and pert performance. Flora might well have come across as intrusive and snooty if the part hadn't been handled carefully. Beckinsale, also impressive in Kenneth Branagh's ``Much Ado About Nothing,'' proves she has everyone's best interests at heart.
John Schlesinger, a fine director and Oscar winner (``Midnight Cowboy'') returns to good taste and elegance after the unfortunate commercial misfire, ``Eye for an Eye.'' The script, by novelist Malcolm Bradbury, is based on Stella Gibbons' popular 1932 novel.
There's a slow start, but ``Cold Comfort Farm'' eventually offers not just a happy ending, but a joyful and liberating one. ILLUSTRATION: Gramercy Pictures
Kate Beckinsale stars as the stylish flapper Flora Poste.
MOVIE REVIEW
``Cold Comfort Farm''
Cast: Eileen Atkins, Kate Beckinsale, Ian McKellen
Director: John Schlesinger
MPAA rating: PG (suggested sensuality, some language)
Mal's rating: ***
Location: Naro in Norfolk by CNB