A Month In The Country (1987)

Set in the summer of 1920 in rural Yorkshire, a destitute WWI veteran (Colin Firth), who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, is employed to carry out restoration work on a Medieval mural in a country church. Coincidentally also working at the church is another vet, an archaeologist (Kenneth Branagh in his film debut) also suffering from PTSD. Based on the novel by J.L. Carr and directed by Pat O'Connor (DANCING AT LUGHNASA). Considering it was shot in 30 days, the film has a leisurely and almost lyrical pacing as it looks at a broken and bitter man who finds redemption in his work and the simplicity of the country people around him. While there's no romance as such in the movie, the scenes between Firth and Natasha Richardson as a minister's wife ache with yearning and futility as a palpable attraction must go unconsumed. In its execution, I couldn't help but be reminded of THE GO BETWEEN. The movie's only drawback is that the thick rural accents of the townspeople are often unintelligible, I could have used subtitles! A lovely, sad little film. With Patrick Malahide and Jim Carter.