Just because the same heroine stars in the three stories covered by this film it doesn't mean we have a single movie on our hands. In fact Terence Davies does here three continuous movies without stopping between them. The first is the story of childhood with a tyrannical father, the second is the story of coming out from his shadow into an independent adult life, the third one is about WW1 and its Scotish victims. It might've worked together in the novel, it doesn't work as a single film. There's no focus' each of the stories loses from having to share screen time with the other two, becoming no more than another weak link in a chain that stretches too long. The cinematography, on the other hand is of the highest class, the acting is mostly very professional and the characters mostly ring true. It could be broken into a decent TV series, with some added scenes, or it could be made as three different films, it wasn't and it's our loss.
Review of Sunset Song
