Sunset Song

Critics Consensus

Achingly lovely on both visual and narrative grounds, Sunset Song adds another small gem to writer-director Terence Davies' filmography.

81%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 114

50%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 2,591

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Movie Info

Sunset Song is Terence Davies' intimate epic of hope, tragedy and love at the dawning of the Great War. A young woman's endurance against the hardships of rural Scottish life, based on the novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, told with gritty poetic realism by Britain's greatest living auteur. The film takes place during the early years of the twentieth century, with the conflicts and choices a young woman experiences reflecting the struggle between tradition and change; a struggle that continues to resonate today. Set in a rural community, Sunset Song is driven by the young heroine Chris and her intense passion for life, for the unsettling Ewan and for the unforgiving land. The First World War reaches out from afar, bringing the modern world to bear on the community in the harshest possible way, yet in a final moment of grace, Chris endures, now a woman of remarkable strength who is able to draw from the ancient land in looking to the future. Sunset Song is at once epic in emotional scale and deeply romantic at its core, given power by Terence Davies' unflinching poetic realism

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Cast

Agyness Deyn
as Chris Guthrie
Peter Mullan
as John Guthrie
Kevin Guthrie
as Ewan Tavendale
Ian Pirie
as Chae Strachan
Nial Fulton
as John Brigson
Niall Greig Fulton
as John Brigson
Mark Bonnar
as Reverend Gibbon
Ron Donachie
as Uncle Tam
Daniela Nardini
as Jean Guthrie
Jack Greenlees
as Will Guthrie
Stuart Bowman
as Alex Mutch
Jamie Michie
as Mr. Kinloch
Hugh Ross
as Inspector
Douglas Rankine
as Long Rob
Jim Sweeney
as Preacher
Antony Strachan
as Munro
Claire Johnston
as Lady Passenger
Trish Mullin
as Mistress Melon
Linda Duncan McLaughlin
as Auntie Janet
Ken Blackburn
as Galt
Emily-Jane Boyle
as Christine
David Ganly
as Tinker
Julian Nest
as Peter Semple
Anne Comfort
as Mrs. Hemans
Bridget McCann
as Female Guest
Simon Tait
as Dr. Meldrum
Gilbert Johnston
as James - the Chauffeur
Tom Duncan
as McIvor
Indigo Paul
as Mollie Douglas
Maelly Comes
as Newborn Guthrie Twin
Gaetan Fyfe
as Toddler Ewan
Luca Humphries
as Dod Guthrie
Callum Adams
as Alec Guthrie
John Molloy
as First Government Man
Ewan Comes
as Newborn Guthrie Twin
James A. Adamson
as Piper
Gavan Guilfoyle
as Second Government Man
Louise Haggerty
as Marget Strachan
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Critic Reviews for Sunset Song

All Critics (114) | Top Critics (34)

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Audience Reviews for Sunset Song

  • Aug 25, 2016
    It's visual beauty is offset by the fact that the main character remains a cypher from begging to end.
    Alec B Super Reviewer
  • Apr 22, 2016
    Want to visit Scotland but can't afford a plane ticket? Want to see it from a rural perspective, pre-WWl, but no one's invented a time machine yet? You could do worse than this brief visit with a family living their day-to-day lives. Not a lot of exposition here, but it's all beautifully filmed. It's dull in some places, no doubt like Scotland herself, and you'll long for a chase scene somewhere, anywhere, even if it's only in a supermarket.
    Kevin M. W Super Reviewer
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