163. Wild Mountain Thyme; movie review

 

 

WILD MOUNTAIN THYME

Cert 12A

104 mins

BBFC advice: Contains suicide references, moderate sex references

Ireland is a place of unfathomable beauty but, boy, it rains.

So, true to life, the camera of Wild Mountain Thyme drifts across the rolling fields, captures the nights of craic in the local boozer and gets very wet in the process.

Meanwhile, Emily Blunt is as alluring as the countryside.

John Patrick Shanley's adaptation of his own play stars Blunt as Rosemary Muldoon - the feisty farmer's daughter who is in love with her shy and clumsy neighbour, Anthony Riley (Jamie Dornan).

Christopher Walken plays the latter's father and narrates a gentle story of centuries-owned farms on the cusp of being passed to the next generation.

There is no doubt in the minds of Rosemary's mother (Dearbhla Molloy) that her land should pass to her more-than-capable, opinionated, pipe-smoking daughter.

However, Anthony's father, despite his son's hard work, is less sure, fearing that his lad, who he constantly belittles, is a begrudging farmer.

Therefore, he contacts his nephew (Jon Hamm) - a New York financier - to see if he would take over.

Wild Mountain Thyme has tall tales, the occasional song and a shy sweaty romance which will delight Blunt and Dornan fans.

It also has two particularly memorable scenes - a one to one in a basic country kitchen in which Dornan and Blunt spark off each other for many minutes.

And there is a conversation acted out by Walken and Dornan which brought a lump to my throat.

This is the second time in a week that I have found myself eulogising about a prim and proper romance and I couldn't help thinking how much it benefited from being restrained rather than showy.

Its most significant minus is Walken's dodgy Irish accent.

Reasons to watch: Accomplished performances by Blunt and Dornan

Reasons to avoid: Some will find it too slow

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? The lyrics and melody of the song Wild Mountain Thyme are a variant of "The Braes Of Balquhither" by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774-1810), and Scottish composer Robert Archibald Smith (1780-1829), but were adapted by Belfast musician Francis McPeake (1885-1971) into "Wild Mountain Thyme" and first recorded by his family in the 1950s.

The final word. Jamie Dornan: "The words are so beautiful and they almost speak in verse to each other. I’ve never talked like that in a movie. As an actor, you’re looking for beautiful words to get to speak and that doesn’t always happen and sometimes you’re speaking words you really don’t want to speak. When an opportunity comes to speak words like that, that are so poetic, I jumped at the chance." Observer

Share this post