"Feast of July" is a Merchant-Ivory production — the company that gave us "Howards End," "A Room With a View" and "The Remains of the Day," among others.
But "Feast of July" was not produced by Ismail Merchant or directed by James Ivory — or, for that matter, scripted by their usual collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. And it shows.
Directed by Christopher Menaul ("TV's "Prime Suspect"), from a screenplay by Christopher Neame ("Bellman and True"), the film does, however, boast all the sumptuous cinematic trappings one might expect from a Merchant-Ivory period piece, from lavish costumes and sets to location-shooting with dozens of extras.
The story is taken from a novel by H.E. Bates, and begins as young Bella Ford (Embeth Davidtz) is shown, very pregnant, traveling across the rainswept countryside during a harsh winter storm. She is trying to reach a small village where she expects to find her baby's father (Greg Wise), a womanizer who left her with false hope and broken promises.
When she has gone as far as she can go on foot, Bella stops in a barn, goes into labor and gives birth. When the baby dies, Bella buries the infant the next morning and pushes on.
Eventually, she arrives at the village, only to find that her lover isn't there — and probably never was. As she is weak, and perhaps near death, a local lamplighter (Tom Bell) takes pity on her and brings her into his home. His three sons seem pleased but his wife (Gemma Jones) smells trouble.
After recovering, Bella is allowed to stay on, and she is, of course, pursued by the three sons — Jedd (James Purefoy), a cocky soldier who quickly leaves for duty; Matty (Kenneth Anderson), a shy, talented shoemaker who wants to go to London; and Con (Ben Chaplin), a troubled young man with a violent temper.
Ultimately, Bella will, naturally, choose Con. And, just as naturally, tragedy looms.
"Feast of July" isn't bad, but it feels overly familiar, from the characters and story, right down to the appealing eye-candy provided by the technical crew.
The characters are nicely drawn and well performed, but the drama is not as compelling as it should be, resulting in an OK feature that seems destined to play better on video.
"Feast of July" is rated R for a moment of shocking, bloody violence and a couple of sex scenes.