Feast of July
| Feast of July | |
|---|---|
Promotional movie poster
|
|
| Directed by | Christopher Menaul |
| Produced by |
Henry Herbert Christopher Neame Ismail Merchant (executive) Paul Bradley (executive) |
| Written by | Christopher Neame (from the novel by H. E. Bates) |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Zbigniew Preisner |
| Cinematography | Peter Sova |
| Edited by | Chris Wimble |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
116 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $293,274 |
Feast of July is a 1995 United Kingdom film directed by Christopher Menaul and produced by Merchant Ivory Productions, based on the 1954 novel by H. E. Bates, starring Embeth Davidtz and Ben Chaplin.
The movie opens with Isabella Ford (Embeth Davidtz) in a pathetic state, traveling alone from Selmouth to Addisford on foot although she will be having a baby in a short while. In a deserted cabin on the way, she gives birth to a stillborn baby. She buries it and continues her journey to Addisford. She arrives there late in the evening and meets Ben Wainwright (Tom Bell), the lamplighter at Addisford. He asks her about herself and if she has any relatives in Addisford. Bella replies that she does not have any and she came looking for a man by the name of Arch Wilson (Greg Wise). Ben does not know him and seeing her plight, takes her to his house. She tells his wife (Gemma Jones) to get Bella washed up. Bella, now clean and dry, sits at the dinner table while Ben introduces his family. Ben has three children. Matty (Kenneth Anderson), Con (Ben Chaplin) and Jedd (James Purefoy). Matty, the youngest, is a shoemaker, Jedd is a soldier (cavalry) and Con does not have a specific profession. He does the household chores and helps his parents around. Throughout the movie, Con is shown to be reserved and introvert with a violent temper, although kind at heart. Bella is unable to eat any thing during the dinner, starts crying and faints when she stands up to go to bed.
Mrs. Wainwright puts Bella to bed and feeds her some soup after a while. Bella refuses to have more and falls asleep. She wakes up in the midnight and remembers the intimate moments with her lover, Arch. She falls asleep again and wakes up in the morning. From the window, she sees Mr and Mrs. Wainwright seeing off Jedd, who is going back to work. Jedd sees Bella at the window and winks at her. Jedd had already been smitten by Bella during the previous night's dinner. After Jedd is gone, Bella prepares to leave. Mrs. Wainwright gives Bella her daughter's coat and tells her that she died of Rheumatic fever, 3 years ago. She asks about Bella's family and learns that she has nowhere to go. She tells her that she can stay and she will have to do her share of household work, if she chooses to stay. She also suggests she fetch leather from the factory for the shoes. Bella agrees to stay.
...
Wikipedia