Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 1932 novel Sunset Song is considered a classic of Scottish literature, and English director Terence Davies has spent 15 years bringing it to the screen. It's with a heavy heart that perhaps the sprawling and archaic epic may not translate to contemporary cinema. It's the story of Chris Guthrie in the early 20th century, a teenage girl (here played by Agyness Deyn) who suffers the changing rota of her family as they pass on or exit, ultimately leaving the farm to her tending. At first, it seems it's operating on a compelling contradiction that's rarely explored. While not only is a young woman's perspective in this time hardly considered on film, but it puts her in command, independent of a man's world while they were drafted to war. Unfortunately, it doesn't sing from that hymn sheet.

The biggest problem is that it seems to lack thematic consistency, or at least develop them with interesting contrasts. Its strongest idea is initially the passage of womanhood, but instead it's interested in vicious cycles. The first third of Sunset Song is a series of examples of pure misery as Chris suffers with little relief. Peter Mullan stars as her abusive father, clearly channelling Pete Postlewaite in Distant Voices, but without the dimensions. Mullan is perfectly capable of dominating the film like he's offered here, but Davies needed to give him more layers. As sources of misery are picked off, the second third is, delightfully, pure joy. Despite some obstacles, Chris thrives on the farm and begins a seemingly happy marriage with her brother's gentle friend Ewan. However, it's void of irony of what came before and what's to come.

The war comes. It whisks Ewan away despite his initial reluctance then his branding as a coward. With little prior hints, the film turns into a bleak anti-war film in how it destroys the fabric of families in spite of earlier strengths. Chris' brilliant triumphs as an independent woman do not overcome. A compassionate film would have left veins of bittersweetness within its rays of hope and despair, but instead it's simply flat, void of the expressionistic nostalgia that Davies has utilised before. Distant Voices, Still Lives – one of the finest British films I've ever seen – and The Long Day Closes, which I was less impressed with, both have exquisite photography, creating an ethereal atmosphere. The photography here is misjudged, being far too wide for an intimate film while its modern crispness makes it feel like actors playing dress- up in theatre. At least the locations lend themselves to the beauty when the camera is outside.

Not to rob the film of its brightest shining attribute though. Agyness Deyn as Chris Guthrie is absolutely incredible, carrying the film squarely on her shoulders. She's raw, committed and deeply expressive. While her character certainly needed more work, she's never dragged down by the film's shortcomings and elevates the film where it falls. The supporting cast doesn't quite have the same potency, but that's mostly due to Davies' overly simple handling of the material. Kevin Guthrie as Ewan has two interesting sides to his character to explore, as he starts kind but transforms into a man like Chris' father, but they're put beside each other. Those facets are finally blended, but by that point it was too late to redeem. Perhaps it was more powerful when the book was written in the 30s at the dawn of another war. In Davies' direction, the film is often either conventional in its domestic dramas or its a meagre attempt at those conventions.

Sunset Song does occasionally have ambitions beyond the grand struggles of the Scottish people in the early century. With Deyn's narration, it occasionally dips into profound ideas of her insignificance in the grand scheme of time. If delivered quicker, it could have made more of an impact. It also dips into the ideas of the relationship between people and the land as the land stays resilient while war takes people away. It contrasts Chris' own battered endurance with the land's bruises. As the film plays one note at a time, it's difficult to take anything pure away from it, but at least attempts are made and lifts it up from mediocrity. Perhaps this just wasn't the right source material for a film just over 2 hours long as it even suffers from its slow pacing. Davies has always focused on the past rather than the present, but perhaps his perspective is too ancient for cinema now.

6/10

I went into the movie not knowing anything about the book, the model or what should have been the proper soldiers dress. I also don't know a good accent from a bad one when it comes to Scottish.

I felt the movie was gorgeous but some scenes were dragged out too long, especially closer to the end. I felt the actress was believable and saw the characters personality was much like the film itself, slow moving and deliberate with few outbursts but when they happened they were believable.

I didn't understand the husband. Why not slog through it rather than become an a-hole? but I guess he was determined. To me this was stupid and the wife should have been angry, then forgiving, rather than understanding.

The story was a view into what it may have been like back then helping me to see real people in real tough situations but who also had God and nature to nurture them.

It is the beauty of the film that has stuck with me. I didn't know Scotland was that gorgeous.

The rolling green hills and fields full of shimmering golden wheat looked so nice in 'Sunset Song'; "Ah", I thought, "The Scottish countryside is lovely." Then I read in the end credits that some of this British/Luxembourg co-production was shot on location in New Zealand. Oh. Possibly I was admiring Kiwi hills instead...

Anyway. The setting is agricultural Scotland in the early Twentieth Century, and the main character is Chris (Agyness Deyn), a teenager who outshines her classmates (not surprisingly as she looks considerably older than most of them) and who dreams of being a teacher. She lives on the family farm with her overly-controlling father (Peter Mullan), who routinely beats her brother in-between making pregnant his wife (Daniela Nardini, who doesn't seem to have had a good meaty role in years). The story, based on a famous Scottish novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, follows Chris through several years of happiness, motherhood and bereavement.

Mullan does his usual one-note bullying schtick, although, to be fair, the script allows him little scope for anything else. As Chris, Deyn is competent, if the viewer ignores one or two flatly-delivered lines - perhaps she was concentrating on her accent (and why hire an English actress to play a Scotswoman anyway? Were all the Scottish actresses busy? It's not as if Deyn is a Winslet-like big name who is going to put bums on seats).

As for the story, it seems to lurch from one scenario to another, with little to connect it all up. It's possible some vital scenes were left on the cutting-room floor (for instance, any explanation of why Chris' happy, worshipful husband is transformed into a rampaging sexist monster after what the film suggests is merely army training which, I should think, would last only a few months, not the five or six years the ageing of his son seems to suggest!) Characters wander into the story then disappear with no explanation (eg: Chris' son and the man who helps her on the farm while her husband is away). It all gives the film a strangely disjointed feel...

... but somehow the end result is greater than the sum of its parts: this is an enjoyable production. Deyn makes a personable heroine and the story has a comforting predictability. The film seems shorter than its 135 minute running time - and with films as with business meetings, what greater praise could there be?