There is a uniquely British bleakness permeating the Nicholas Parish-directed film The Old Man and the Land; we follow the stoic life of a beaten-down farmer and father struggling to carry the farm business after the death of his wife. Meanwhile, he is dealing with the answer phone messages from his grown-up son and daughter. They are bickering needy adult children who are systematically chipping away at their father’s way of life.
We are privy to the phone calls from the siblings, son Richard, played by Rory Kinnear, and daughter Laura, played by Emily Beecham, although we never actually see them. We do hear them, though, and the phone calls and inner monologues reveal everything we need to know about these characters.
Richard is struggling with alcohol addiction, and Laura has moved to Spain, and they both have daddy issues. The question about the farm’s legacy looms heavily in the grey air, and the combative nature of the relationships in this family forms the dramatic narrative of the film.
It soon becomes clear that we will never hear Dad’s side of the story; he never speaks throughout the runtime. Instead, we are treated to Twin Peaks-esque shots of trees and farmland. These are accentuated by an ambient score, adding to the rain-soaked drudgery of the father’s life.
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“…the family drama is revealed in phone messages…”
The screenplay almost comes across as an audio drama, and everything is initially revealed in the phone messages. Later, we become eavesdroppers into other aspects of the character’s lives, such as listening to Richard’s AA meeting. Director Nicholas Parish has the job of finding the most carefully chosen shots to present to the audience. However, it does result in the viewer eventually becoming numb to the images as we listen to the exposition in the dialogue. Often, what we are watching does not even try to evoke much of what we are listening to.
It’s definitely an interesting approach, but I did find my mind wandering a bit as I listened to the ramblings of the unseen cast members. This is a film that requires some work from the audience. Not just to focus on the long musings but to try and get through to the end without shouting at the screen. The two insufferable, damaged, and selfish offspring become increasingly hard to listen to. You feel like telling them to stop acting like spoiled brats despite the reveal that their upbringing is to blame for their current outlook on life. However, as a result, I became frustrated by their downtrodden father’s lack of action.
As the final act looms, we are aware that the battle for the farm between Richard and Laura is a driving factor in their lives. A letter written by Richard to his father gives us the context we had been looking for. Unfortunately, despite the initial clever use of the premise, the film does seem to run out of momentum. I was curious as to why this approach was used to tell this story. Scenes between the characters could have been truly dramatic and emotive, but as an audience, we are robbed of any real emotion due to the filmmaker’s approach to storytelling.
Brave and unique The Old Man and the Land may be, and there is a lot here to admire, still I was left slightly alienated, and ultimately detached from the whole affair.
"…almost comes across as an audio drama..."
