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Country Life - DVD

SKU: 7869871 | Release Date: 5/21/2002

Rating: PG-13

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Rating: PG-13
Format: DVD
Theatrical Release: 1994
Length: 103 minutes
Screen Formats: Enhanced Widescreen for 16x9 TV
Genre: General Dramas
Studio: UNKNOWN
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Synopsis

This Australian drama has been adapted from Chekov's Uncle Vanya. It is set in post WW I Australia at a time when the Aussies were getting ready to break away from England. After his father's death, Jack Dickens sacrificed his literary aspirations to run the family farm. He lives in the old farm house with his aged mother and his plain, soft-spoken niece Sally, who was abandoned by her father Alexander Voysey after her mother, Jack's sister, passed away. Sally suffers unrequited love for Max Askey, the local doctor. Jack sends monthly payments to his brother-law Alexander, an aspiring London literary critic. After secretly dishonoring himself in London, Alexander returns to Australia with his lovely and much younger wife, Deborah. Alexander is a wind-bag and it is plain that Deborah is unhappily married. Jack and the doctor are attracted by the comely woman and vie for her attention at the expense of long suffering and ignored Sally. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Version Details

Languages/Sound

Fre/Eng

Screen Formats

Enhanced Widescreen for 16x9 TV

Additional Features

cc Theatrical trailer French-language track Dolby Digital Surround Sound Widescreen (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions

Chapters

Side #1 --
1. Openign Credits: Preparing for a Visit [9:02]
2. Medicine and Music [8:41]
3. English Elegance [5:42]
4. Pampering the Guests [3:11]
5. A Provocative Presentation [3:51]
6. Utility and Boredom [6:42]
7. "A Lovely, Lovely Name" [8:25]
8. Little Secrets [9:08]
9. Dr. Asky's Diagnosis [6:08]
10. Trying to Improve [3:37]
11. "A Good Pair" [6:26]
12. Revealing the Doctor's Feelings [5:12]
13. "My Worst Enemy" [10:33]
14. Parting on Good Terms [7:23]
15. End Credits [10:35]

Cast

Tony Barry - Logger
Ron Blanchard - Wally Wells
Bryan Marshall - Mr. Pettinger
Sam Neill - Dr. Max Askey
Kerry Fox - Sally Voysey
Greta Scacchi - Deborah Voysey
Rob Steele - James
Robyn Cruze - Violet
Maurie Fields - Fred Livingstone
John Hargreaves - Jack Dickens
Patricia Kennedy - Maude Dickens
Googie Withers - Hannah
Michael Blakemore - Alexander Voysey

Crew

Sound/Sound Designer: Phil Judd
Casting: Alison Barrett
First Assistant Director: Colin Fletcher
Costume Designer: Wendy Chuck
Musical Direction/Supervision: Ben Osma
Cinematographer: Stephen Windon
Editor: Nicholas Beauman
Director: Michael Blakemore
Screenwriter: Michael Blakemore
Composer (Music Score): Peter Best
Producer: Robin Dalton
Production Designer: Lawrence Eastwood
Play Author: Anton Chekhov
Cinematographer: Steve Windon

Country Life: AMG Review
Tom Wiener , AMG

Among the many virtues of writer/director/actor Michael Blakemore's film "suggested by Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya," is the way it captures a sense of yearning among all of its major characters. The axis on which nearly everyone's emotions turn is Alexander Voysey (Blakemore), a self-centered literary critic who has conveniently lived in England supported by the labors of his brother-in-law, Jack Dickens (John Hargreaves), and Voysey's abandoned daughter, Sally (Kerry Fox). His arrival at their New South Wales farm in 1919, with the Great War just concluded and Australia poised to examine its place in the British Commonwealth, unlooses plenty of passion as well as pent-up resentment and longing. Jack hates Alexander for his dilettantish ways but is instantly smitten by the old man's luminous young bride, Deborah (Greta Scaachi), who is in turn attracted to the local physician, Max Askey (Sam Neill), who is himself the object of Sally's long-held affections. Sally tries in vain to connect with a father she has never known, trying to give him the benefit of her well-placed doubts. Blakemore plays this for broad comedy as well as heart-rending drama, and when things threaten to get a little turgid, Hannah (Googie Withers), the farm's tart-tongued maid, lays down the law. Hargreaves and Blakemore play their roles broadly, while the women are more understated, especially Fox, who never disappoints. Neill is fine as the prototypical Australian male loner who even bucks the local sentiment by attacking Britain for luring Australia into the war. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

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Country Life - DVD

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Country Life - DVD

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