Country Life: Ten films set in the shires

Ten films set in the shires

Marwood (Paul McGann):

‘Get out of it for a while. Get into the?countryside. Rejuvenate.’

Withnail (Richard E Grant):

‘Rejuvenate! What good's the?countryside? I'm in a park and I'm practically dead.’

Withnail & I?(1987)

In a previous piece for The Spectator I explored the darker side of British rural life in the movies, so it’s only fair to take look at some upsides of fleeing the city for the bucolic delights of the?countryside.

Especially since Covid-19 prompted some urbanites to up sticks and try their hand at?Mr Blandings-style living.

Without the joys of cinema, restaurants, clubs, bars, concerts and the theatre,?the appeal of decamping to the shires to often larger/cheaper homes with the advantages of working from home (for the lucky ones) looked increasingly appealing.

In British television there’s a long and storied tradition of fish out of water relocation drama, including?Agatha Raisin,?Down to Earth,?Forever Green,?Shillingbury Tales,?Rockliffe’s Folly, Telford’s Change?and?The Vicar of Dibley.

And I guess even?The Prisoner…

When contemplating a possible exodus - be prepared for a sizeable culture shock, in this case not an altogether unpleasant experience, with ten films that demonstrate some of the rustic pleasures to be had in the Great British?Countryside:

Fisherman’s Friends?(2019) – Amazon Prime

Down to Poldark country for this true-life tale of Kernow sea-shanty warbling.

A group of Port Isaac seamen lead by James Purefoy find unlikely success as singers when discovered by a pranked record executive (the ubiquitous Daniel Mays).

The picture attracted some controversy when now disgraced cast member Noel Clarke (Dr Who,?Kidulthood) whined about his absence from promotional posters.

Fisherman’s Friends?made enough at the box office for a Glastonbury-themed sequel to be threatened.

Clarke won’t be returning.

?The Selfish Giant?(2013) – MUBI/Amazon Rent/Buy

Part of the trend in?gritty?countryside?movies, critically lauded?The Selfish Giant?is inspired by the Oscar Wilde story of the same name and concerns Arbor and Swifty (superbly played by Connor Chapman and Shaun Thomas respectively), two Bradford teenagers who sell scrap metal when they’re both suspended from school.

Sean Gilder, as the improbably named scrap merchant ‘Kitten’ (the metaphorical ‘Giant’), lends the boys a horse and cart to collect the metal which leads to them discovering the beauty of the nearby moors and dales.

Tragedy ensues after Arbor decides to swipe some of Kitten’s stock, but the picture does end on a note of hope and redemption, echoing Wilde’s fable.

Resistance?(2011) – Amazon Prime

Adapted from Owen Sheers’ novel of the same name,?Resistance?posits an alternate WWII history, where D-Day has failed and the Germans now occupy the UK.

A small ‘British Resistance’ exists, which makes life increasingly conflicted for the inhabitants of a small village in the Welsh valleys when a Wehrmacht unit arrives to establish an observation post.

Farmer’s wife Sarah (Andrea Riseborough) forms a dangerous bond with scholarly German officer Captain Wolfram (Game of Thrones’?Tom Wlaschiha) who seeks to hide an invaluable medieval map from Himmler’s antiquarian looters.

A Bunch of Amateurs?(2008)

One of those ideas that may have seemed better on paper than the completed film, with the late Burt Reynolds playing an ageing, washed-up movie star (no great stretch tbh) who, in a predictable comedy of errors, finds himself playing King Lear in a Suffolk village’s amateur production.

To their shame, Imelda Staunton, Derek Jacobi, and Reynolds pal Charles Durning all join in the laboured ‘fun’.

Ian Hislop was one of four writers of this widely slated flop, which for some reason was chosen for the 2008 Royal Film Performance to replace?Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

What Her Majesty had done to deserve such punishment is anyone’s guess.

Hot Fuzz?(2007) – Netflix/Amazon Prime

Edgar Wright’s very enjoyable follow-up to?Shaun of the Dead?sees the director spoofing US action movies. The twist being the setting of the fictional Gloucestershire town of Sandford (Wells the actual location).

Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the picture with Wright, plays by-the-book police sergeant Nicholas Angel, who success leads to his less capable superiors transferring him to the apparently sleepy burg.

For film fans?Hot Fuzz?boats a veritable Who’s Who of British actors who have played major roles in US action movies and TV, including Edward Woodward (The Equaliser), Stuart Wilson (Lethal Weapon III) and Paul Freeman (René Belloq in?Raiders of the Lost Ark).

And not forgetting former 007 Timothy Dalton, who displays a perhaps surprising knack for comedy in the role of villainous Sandford supermarché manager Simon Skinner.

The Holiday?(2006) - Netflix, Amazon Rent/Buy

This saccharine Christmas house swap rom com appears to now be approaching the status of a Festive Season TV staple, although in my opinion it’s no?Elf.

Break-ups with cheating partners lead to a holiday exchange between society columnist Iris (Kate Winslet) and movie trailer producer Amanda (Cameron Diaz).

Winslet takes Diaz’s glamorous LA house in return for her picture book Surrey cottage.

Jude Law plays Winslet’s smugly charming brother Graham, who (surprise surprise) falls for Diaz, with Winslet pulling the short straw and ending up with Jack Black (as needy film composer Miles) as her love interest.

Speaking for myself, the rolling Surrey?countryside?and Winslet’s pretty village of Shere were the chief compensation when watching this overly sugary confection.

I Capture the Castle?(2003)

Dodie Smith’s 1930’s-set culture clash novel was brought to the screen in 2003 by TV director Tim Fywell.

Living in a mouldering castle in genteel poverty, the unconventional Mortmains see a chance to re-establish their fortunes and, in the case of daughters Rose (Rose Bryne) and Cassandra (Romola Garai) even find love, when the wealthy American Cotton family become their new landlords.

Henry Thomas (ET) plays the heir to the Cotton fortune, with an early role for Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) as Stephen Colley, the orphaned son of the Mortmain’s former maid, now a loyal (and unpaid) retainer of the family.

Bill Nighy provides another effortless portrait of eccentricity as Mortmain patriarch James, with Tara Fitzgerald as his wife (and enthusiastic nudist) Topaz.

The Englishman who Went up a Hill?but Came down a Mountain?(1995) – Amazon Rent/Buy

Welsh director/writer Christopher Monger rather overdoes the Cymric stereotypes in this comedic tale set in the fictional South Walian village of ‘Ffynnon Garw’ in 1917.

The community bands together to keep their local mountain’s status as such when two English cartographers (Hugh Grant and Ian McNeice) tell them that it falls 20 ft short of the official definition and must therefore be reclassified as a mere hill.

Hugh is diffident in his role, taking a backseat to an array of eccentrics, including Kenneth Griffiths as the windbag Reverend Jones and randy pub landlord Morgan the Goat (played by Irishman Colm Meaney).

Monger went on to direct the well regarded BBC4 biopic?Burton & Taylor.

Withnail & I?(1987) – Amazon Rent/Buy

Bruce Robinson’s scabrously hilarious black comedy is deservedly one of the most quotable movies ever filmed and has a cult following that continues to grow over the years.

In some ways it may be an albatross to Robinson, as he is frequently called upon to comment on his picture in interviews, podcasts and earlier this year, a Lockdown Watch-a-long:

Still, he appears to do this with good grace and if?Withnail?is an albatross, it’s a damned good one to have around your neck.

If you need reminding of the plot; briefly – out of work actors Marwood (‘I’- Paul McGann) and Withnail (Richard E Grant) struggle with poverty, alcohol abuse and their own myriad hang-ups.

Withnail pimps the unsuspecting Marwood out to his Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) in return for the use of his Cumbrian cottage for what turns out to be an extremely ill-fated holiday.

Local Hero?(1983) – Amazon Rent/Buy

Bill Forsyth’s career-best picture has retained its unique charm over the decades, with fine performances from an ensemble cast that includes Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert (Animal House),?Fulton Mackay (Porridge), Denis Lawson (New Tricks) and a very young Peter Capaldi (Dr Who).

Riegert’s Houston oil executive "Mac" MacIntyre is tasked by eccentric boss Felix Happer (Lancaster) to acquire the village of Ferness in the Scottish Highlands to make way for a massive refinery.

The locals more than match the wits of the Americans, who know full well the potential value of their land.

Riegert and then Lancaster both become enchanted by the beauty of the area and its canny inhabitants.

The movie is peppered with moments that verge on the surreal, including this scene between Lancaster’s character and his deranged psychiatrist Moritz.

Oh, and Jenny Seagrove (Judge John Deed) plays a web-toed marine biologist who’s also (possibly) a mermaid.