The Levelling

source: The Levelling

Levelling means working away the unevenness of the ground. But I had a feeling that there was another meaning in psychology. I found this, " Leveling is when people keep out parts of stories and try to tone those stories down so that some parts are excluded." (Wiki) I think this is the key to understanding film. Our protagonist returns home for his brother's funeral and has to decipher what has happened over the past few months. It's a fascinating investigation. And through the grieving process and the rather complex parent-child relationship, we get a multi-layered story. The protagonist (and it doesn't matter her gender; in the story it doesn't matter that she is the girl of the two children) is thrown back into her past. I really liked the way the behaviour of the educated and self-conscious woman who is about to become a vet is replaced, even in a single scene, by that of a vulnerable but strong little girl.

The young girl Clover comes back to her former home to investigate why her brother Harry committed suicide. This puts her in conflict with her father Aubrey who cannot (or does not) explain why her brother killed herself during a party that was taking place at the time. And besides that she finds her former house and farm almost economically ruined. The movie is well performed by both main performers, father and daughter but the story is a bit too banal. In the end father and daughter fall in love with each other again. Anyway it can be watched willlingly since its dramatic development has some quality.

"The Levelling" is a film that was naturally melancholy with characters that had believable personalities. Artistically patient with a feeling of me spying on the characters in their quiet Somerset life. This was a Drama in every form of the connotation. I felt the ratio for the gloom and melodrama didn't proportionately represent the problems and troubles we were being presented to on the screen. This was the hard sell for me. I feel this was more of a problem of it being a full feature film rather than a short film. To have the 1h23m time, they seemed to have built up the suspense of her brother's death as if some huge grand scheme was happening that she didn't know about while she was gone. It was difficult for me to really sympathize with the main character because I felt she had no real strings attached to the turmoil that she was in. She could of easily left and easy as she got in and there was no prior or present time introduction to strengthen how much her brother's death meant to her. It did do a good job showing the hardships of catastrophe, disasters, and small mishaps that can shape our lives and change how we address people; even the ones we love. It was a good film, nothing to write home about and all the actors played their part as intended. It would not be worth a watch more than once and if you are into dramas that actually show the shaping of character development, this is worth the time.

This is a compact film. Not a whole lot of plot points or ridiculous drama, it simply is a little story with lots of emotion. It almost comes across as a mystery with all the questions we have coming into the situation but I suppose from our characters point of view it is just that. The people around her dodge her questions like they have some secrets to hide which leads to some intrigue as a viewer but over time we come to learn the truth that they were trying to avoid. Someone close to them is gone and there is no easy answer as to why that had to be the case. Maybe the father should've tried to be more understanding of his son's struggle. Maybe Clover should've know better than stay away in spite of all troubles at home. They can try to blame whoever they want but ultimately whats done is done and that truth is what the characters need to come to terms with. Like the father said 'despite it all I still have to get up and milk the cows in the morning'

Awesome script, awesome actors, pretty sad story, so well done. Excellent.

A young woman (Kendrick) returns to the family farm after many years, due to tragedy -- her lone brother's apparent suicide -- and grapples with a difficult situation and a combative relationship with her father. A very British film to me: fine performances from both Kendrick and Troughton both controlled and realistically playing their parts, moody well-shot rural scenes providing some atmosphere to the bleak world: yet also one exhaustively dour, thin on plot, drama. It's clearly sincere in the portrayal of the realities of modern farming and rural life, which may well be it's main drive alongside the similar-yet-different father\daughter relationship, but this left me cold.

Clover, a veterinary student returns to the family farm following a bereavement in the family. Her father is struggling with grief over far more than this latest loss, having given up a military career to take over the farm decades earlier. Death stalks the story as Clover's relationship with her father, mother, brother and even family dogs is explored. I almost had a feeling of in amongst the action, learning about real people through meeting them and picking up pieces of the jigsaw from each in turn. The story is so convincing that I could imagine it being filmed sequentially, with the actors learning plot twists just as we do. Watching critically, there were perhaps two occasions when characters reacted in ways I had not expected, but I realised that they were correct and it was my anticipation that was wrong. Every revelation was something long known about but ignored or repressed. The jolt of parts falling into place was tangible; not just Clover but Aubrey and James too made discoveries about themselves and others around them. There was minimal theatricality. Characters came and went with no introductions or explanations. Helen's character was a tiny joy, a gem of a part. The weakest character was the vicar arranging the funeral. I understand why it was necessary, but I would expect her to lead parishioners to their own conclusions, not trot out some amateur psychology. Her limited screen time would have had to be much longer to accommodate that. Death, mud, decay, rain and stoic acceptance of tragedy run as constant themes. Images of hares play the role performed by background music in lesser films, with one swimming, then sinking lifelessly, only for the closing shot to be a hare running in the inevitable rain. No easy answers in this film, but an astonishingly brave exercise in respecting the audience to fill gaps rather than having the script explain everything. I would be interested to know whether Hope Dickson Leach had the idea already and the real flood was a fortuitous coincidence, whether it was a hastily put together (probably largely improvised) story in response to the damage, or some other combination of theme and natural circumstance.

to rhondasmit "Miserable": yes, this farm appears badly run. dead mum, floods, brink of financial ruin, then suicide of heir apparent. god-awful patriarch unable to cope. daughter ran away long ago. i don't think this film was supposed to be a study in good farm management, good animal husbandry, or exemplary familial bonds. rather - it reflects the reality of most people as flawed human beings with mostly flawed coping mechanisms. sorrow, remorse, depression, the daily grind of life's demands ('you get up and milk the cows every morning forever - this is your life') - it's a depressing movie. why would anyone want to live and work on a farm where litter is left lying about and everything is mired in muck. perhaps that's the point. plot devices are moderately rudimentary: make the vegan veterinarian daughter kill the newborn calf "so the mother won't get attached to it" with the same gun (i think) that the brother had used to kill himself - that was just needlessly ham-handed (or beef-handed?) audience manipulation. ending pretty predictable. dad crying, daughter protagonist crying, sky crying on funeral day. acting was OK given unlikable characters. time-line too short for any character growth. so if you want to be thoroughly depressed, watch this film. at least it's honest enough to not offer some crap Disney-esque happy-ever- after only found in fairy tales. the ending leaves a tiny sliver of hope for those so inclined. if you want unrealistic happy 'farminess" - go watch "Babe".

There isn't even the slightest hint of a reason for the audience to invest any emotional or even intellectual empathy with any of the characters in this movie. There's no drama.. no investment at all - in fact watching it I found myself desperately trying to convince myself not to turn it off as "Something has GOT to happen soon???". The opening shots of the film give you a clue as to what is to come... two establishing shots of a farm in the middle of nowhere that seem to last for 10 minutes (ok I exaggerate - but it feels like that!).. a montage of some naked guys doing something (???!!!).. no information about them is communicated at all. I guess we're supposed to assume her brother was drunk at this (unexplained) beach party??!! I have no idea!! It's so boring after that. I just wish the naked guys had shown up again and at least put some life into it! If you enjoy watching an actress do her best when essentially she has nothing to do, wander around a farm picking up shit and cleaning, while finding dead badgers then this film is for you! If you LOVE caravans.. then oh jeez this will be a treat!!!!! Otherwise.. don't spend money on it.