The gay love story "God's Own Country" opens in cinemas at the end of October.
In the barren and archaic Yorkshire landscape, there is nothing but wind, rain and lots of sheep. Not exactly a place where you would want to end up as a gay man. And yet one of the truest and most touching love stories of this film year takes place here "God's Own Country„.
From the hill that Gheorghe has climbed, the landscape stretches endlessly into the distance on all sides. This early in the year, the vast meadows and fields are still a dirty brown colour, but together with the dramatic towering clouds, this archaic wilderness, only marginally tamed by human hands, leaves a deep impression.
It's beautiful here, but also lonely.
"It's nice here," says farm labourer Gheorghe to Johnny, "but it's also lonely". In this little sentence, the Romanian temp has already summarised the whole dilemma of young farmer Johnny. To tourists and romantics, this remote corner of Yorkshire in the far north of England may seem like a boisterous paradise on earth.
For Johnny, however, who is in his mid-twenties and ekes out a living on a run-down, isolated farm, his view of the beauty of nature is obscured. Livestock farming barely yields anything, the living conditions are poor, the remoteness and loneliness a challenge.
Getting his rocks off in the pub in the nearest village is the only diversion he has after a hard day's work. At the cattle market in the town, he even has a quickie in the cattle truck. But there is not much more. Since his father lost his job following a stroke, the responsibility for the small farm has fallen entirely on Johnny (played by Josh O'Connor). When life offers you so few prospects, you not only lose sight of the beauty of the landscape in which you live, you also lose all joy.
When Gheorghe is hired as a seasonal labourer, Johnny's dissatisfaction has long since turned him into a puke. He treats the migrant labourer with the utmost unfriendliness and undisguised resentment, provocatively calling him a "gypsy" and eyeing him suspiciously.
But Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu), who proves to be a competent sheep farmer and farmer, puts up with a lot, but not everything. Above all, however, he succeeds in cracking the armour Johnny has locked himself in. The way this happens, almost wordlessly, with small, barely perceptible gestures, is one of the great strengths of this wonderful film.
Intensity and authenticity
"God's Own Country", the autobiographically coloured feature film debut by Brit Franics Lee, is so coherent, so stunning and perfect down to the smallest detail that the viewer sometimes wants to cry with happiness. Gay love among cattle herders - a comparison with "Brokeback Mountain" naturally springs to mind, and indeed there are even similar central scenes in terms of motifs (such as the first sex during a work assignment lasting several days on a remote pasture).
But not only does "God's Own Country" only subtly hint at the homophobia in the surrounding society and village community, in comparison to Ang Lee's Oscar-winning film, "God's Own Country" seems immensely dirtier, more rigorous and yes: more authentic.
Cow shit in the barn
The mud in the fields, the cow shit in the barn, the birth of lambs and the death of animals are as natural and quasi-documentary a part of Francis Lee's drama as the windswept landscape and the inhospitable weather. And the two stunning leading actors skin the carcass as confidently as they dress wounds and repair stone walls, as if they had never done anything else all their lives.
But with the same intensity and authenticity, they also develop sexual passion in front of the camera and ultimately more and more closeness and tenderness. The path to this is not easy for either man. Johnny has the most difficult part to get through.
But not because he represses his gayness - unlike "Brokeback Mountain", this film is not about an impeded or socially impossible coming out - but because his idea of being gay, of gay sexuality, seems to be so stunted. People who grow up here generally don't talk much, especially not about feelings.
This applies to the drunks in the pub, to Johnny's grumpy father, who is struggling with his own frailty, and to his narrow-mouthed grandmother (Gemma Jones), who takes care of the household. And so Johnny first has to learn to admit his feelings, to stand by them and, if necessary, to express them without words. Josh O'Connor shows how this alone can change the face of a person with an Oscar-worthy performance.
"God's Own Country". GB 2017, directed and written by Francis Lee. With Josh O'Connor, Alec Secareanu, Ian Hart, Gemma Jones. 104 min. Official cinema release: 26.10.
http://www.gods-own-country.de/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlnesFnHdQQ
