This film is part of Rentals

Sunset Song
Agyness Deyn stars in Terence Davies’ moving drama about a strong young woman facing many adversities in the run up to WWI.
Director: Terence Davies
Overview
Agyness Deyn stars in Terence Davies’ moving drama about a strong young woman facing many adversities in the run up to WWI. Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s novel gives Terence Davies a broad canvas of rain-lashed farmland on which to apply his knack for literary adaptation.
It’s the early 20th-century in rural Scotland and Chris Guthrie (Deyn) is a young woman with ambition, but family life has its own pull and her religious father exerts a formidable force on his brood. As the constellation of her family shifts around her and romance comes calling, WWI begins. Deyn's tremendous performance as Chris commands attention in every scene of Davies' epic, supplemented by Peter Mullan and Kevin Guthrie as the two equally troublesome men in her lives; her volcanically tempered father and a husband traumatised from his stint in the trenches. Davies originally aimed to adapt Gibbon’s novel in 2000, following House of Mirth, but was unable to raise financing. His disillusionment with the process led to an 11-year hiatus from narrative filmmaking, only punctuated by the documentary Of Time and the City in 2008. Thankfully Sunset Song offers ample rewards to offset its protracted gestation and a reminder of Davies’ pertinent value to British cinema.
Related

Barrio Boy Barrio Boy
Romance 2022 83 mins Director: Dennis Shinners
A Latino barber embarks on an erotically charged odyssey of self-discovery over one hot summer in Brooklyn.

Small Things Like These Small Things Like These
Drama 2024 99 mins Director: Tim Mielants
Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as a coal merchant who discovers horrific secrets about his local convent.

Rafiki Rafiki
Drama 2018 83 mins Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Romantic sparks fly between the daughters of two opposing politicians in Wanuri Kahiu’s neon-bright story of forbidden love in Kenya.

2073 2073
Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia
Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.

Who We Love Who We Love
Drama 2021 94 mins Director: Graham Cantwell
Bullied for her sexuality, Dublin schoolgirl Lily turns to her gay best friend for support in this vibrant coming-out, coming-of-age drama.

Only the River Flows Only the River Flows
Crime 2023 102 mins Director: Shujun Wei
Shujun Wei's slow-burn noir draws us inexorably into its mysterious psychological journey.

Moonlight Moonlight
Drama 2016 111 mins Director: Barry Jenkins
Winner of the 2017 Oscar for Best Picture (eventually!), Barry Jenkins’ intoxicating drama follows the furtive life of a gay black boy through 80s Miami.

A Quiet Passion A Quiet Passion
Biopic 2017 125 mins Director: Terence Davies
Terence Davies' elegant and deeply moving biopic of poet Emily Dickinson, played with sensitivity and rebellious spirit by Cynthia Nixon.

Neruda Neruda
Biopic 2016 110 mins Director: Pablo Larraín
Pablo Larraín's bold, inventive detective thriller offers an electrifying contemplation of the Chilean poet's life on the run in the late 1940s.

Elle Elle
Drama 2015 131 mins Director: Paul Verhoeven
Isabelle Huppert gives an unforgettable performance in Paul Verhoeven’s provocative thriller about one woman’s response to a violent attack.

Clash Clash
Thriller 2016 94 mins Director: Mohamed Diab
Mohamed Diab’s Clash is an unforgettable portrait of Egypt on the brink as rival protesters find themselves locked up in a police van. Un Certain Regard official selection at Cannes 2016.

Son of Saul Son of Saul
Drama 2015 107 mins Director: László Nemes
A devastating portrait of life in a concentration camp from the perspective of a Sonderkommando; winner of Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix.

Electricity Electricity
Drama 2014 96 mins Director: Bryn Higgins
Agyness Deyn stars in a powerful story seen through the eyes of a young woman whose epilepsy brings extraordinary hallucinations.

Trainspotting Trainspotting
Drama 1996 90 mins Director: Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle's exhilarating, narcotic trip follows a group of heroin-addicted friends as they navigate their way through Glasgow's seedy 1990s drug culture.

My Name Is Joe My Name Is Joe
Drama 1998 105 mins Director: Ken Loach
Ken Loach's intense drama boasts a majestic performance from Peter Mullan as a recovering alcoholic in Glasgow, struggling with his feelings for a local health worker.

Shallow Grave Shallow Grave
Comedy 1995 89 mins Director: Danny Boyle
Ewan McGregor and Danny Boyle burst onto the scene with this dark crime caper about three friends and their rich, dead flatmate.

Tyrannosaur Tyrannosaur
Drama 2011 92 mins Director: Paddy Considine
Paddy Considine’s powerful feature debut, featuring astonishingly strong performances from Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan.

... Long Distance Information ... Long Distance Information
Drama 2011 8 mins Director: Douglas Hart
Our parents always told us 'never talk to strangers'. But, surely, we all have to phone home sometimes? Award-winning short film starring Peter Mullan.

Benediction Benediction
Drama 2020 137 mins Director: Terence Davies
Terence Davies’ moving and lyrical portrait of the life of celebrated war poet Siegfried Sassoon.

A Quiet Passion A Quiet Passion
Biopic 2017 125 mins Director: Terence Davies
Terence Davies' elegant and deeply moving biopic of poet Emily Dickinson, played with sensitivity and rebellious spirit by Cynthia Nixon.

The Deep Blue Sea The Deep Blue Sea
Drama 2011 99 mins Director: Terence Davies
Buried passions boil over in a buttoned-up postwar Britain in Terence Davies acclaimed adaptation of Rattigan's play, starring Rachel Weisz.

Barrio Boy Barrio Boy
Romance 2022 83 mins Director: Dennis Shinners
A Latino barber embarks on an erotically charged odyssey of self-discovery over one hot summer in Brooklyn.

Small Things Like These Small Things Like These
Drama 2024 99 mins Director: Tim Mielants
Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as a coal merchant who discovers horrific secrets about his local convent.

Rafiki Rafiki
Drama 2018 83 mins Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Romantic sparks fly between the daughters of two opposing politicians in Wanuri Kahiu’s neon-bright story of forbidden love in Kenya.

Luxor Luxor
Romance 2020 86 mins Director: Zeina Durra
Andrea Riseborough stars as an aid worker processing the trauma of working on the frontline on the Jordanian-Syrian border.

2073 2073
Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia
Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.