Cold Comfort Farm

1996 Comedy

Stella Gibbons' popular novel was published in 1932, and it has been adapted twice for British television, first as a miniseries in 1971, then by director John Schlesinger in 1995. That version proved so popular that it was released to theaters in the U.S. The heroine of Gibbons' story, Flora Poste (Kate Beckinsale), is an aspiring young writer with two needs: material for her first novel, and a cheap place to live and work. A wealthy friend encourages her to take advantage of her country cousins and impose upon them for lodgings. Flora finds Cold Comfort Farm to be a ramshackle affair populated by eccentrics including the imperious Ada Doom (Sheila Burrell), her daughter Judith (Eileen Atkins), Judith's rough but handsome son Seth (Rufus Sewell), and Amos (Ian McKellen), an amateur preacher whose sermonizing seems to release some kind of demons within him. Undaunted by this menagerie, Flora gets to work organizing the household, and she comes to realize that the material for her book is right in front of her. more..

Director: John Schlesinger

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Joanna Lumley, Ian McKellen, Rufus Sewell,Stephen Fry

 24 Reviews  5 Awards

Reviews

  • It's been brought to the screen by director John Schlesinger and writer Malcolm Bradbury with such deftness, giving it a life of its own, that it's not necessary for audiences to be familiar with the literature it satirizes.

    Kevin Thomas - Los Angeles Times

    19 January 2013

  • Around town, Stephen Fry ("Peter's Friends"), as a fluty artiste, dogs Flora with his devotion and declares, "I'm engorgedly in love with you!" That's how I feel about this gem.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

  • The filmmakers have done a beautiful job of preserving the satirical snap of Gibbons's original. But the real joy of Cold Comfort Farm is watching these actors play so freely and exuberantly off each other.

    Hal Hinson - The Washington Post

    19 January 2013

  • Who, though, would assume rambunctious humor would be served up as well? Dickens meets the Beverly Hillbillies, and the movie is handsome, too.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    19 January 2013

  • This tart but fluffy paean to good sense and clean linen is a bracing reminder that the reason the English think they're so clever is that they are -- some of them, at any rate.

    - TV Guide

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Make Up/Hair

    BAFTA Awards (1996)

  • Best Made-For-TV Movie

    Banff Television Festival (1995)

  • Drama

    International Emmy Awards (1996)

     

  • Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical

    Satellite Awards (1997)

     

  • Stella Gibbons

    USC Scripter Award (1997)

     

Lists

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