Winter Solstice (Sinéad Cusack)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s six years since we watched the 2003 film ‘Winter Solstice’, based on Rosamunde Pilcher’s novel with the same title. I recalled the storyline fairly well, and also that it was quite an absorbing film, originally made for television. We count it as a Christmas one, even though it’s only towards the end of the movie that Christmas takes place.

The main character is Elfrida (Sinéad Cusack). She has recently lost the man she has lived with for fifteen years. Unfortunately for her, he was a risk-taker who left no insurance, and a large amount of debt. So she has to sell the house they have lived in, and - she hopes - find a job. Her age isn’t given but she must be somewhere between forty-five and fifty-five. She used to be an actor, and hopes to get back into that field.

Initially, after the house sale, she goes to stay with her good friend Didi (Marsha Fitzalan). Didi has two daughters: twenty-five-year-old Carrie (Sophie Schütt) and fifteen-year-old Lucy (Anna Maguire). Carrie lives abroad, so Elfrida is staying in her room… Didi is recently divorced, but can’t survive without a man. 

We then see Carrie with her boyfriend, who is promising to love her forever.  She gets a sudden shock, and her world is turned upside down. She gets on a plane and heads for home. 

We also meet Sam (Jason Durr) who is an accountant for a large business organisation. He is going to have to travel to the north of Scotland to close down a business that employs about a hundred people. He happens to sit next to Carrie on a plane, but she ignores him, deep in her misery. 

Elfrida goes to stay for a while in her lawyer’s holiday cottage, and gets to know her neighbours: Oscar (Jan Niklas), his wife Gloria (Geraldine Chaplin) and their delightful daughter Francesca (Emilia Streets) who is twelve. Then she manages to get an interview with her former agent so she rushes off to London… and while she’s away, a terrible tragedy happens. I knew it was coming, and still had to look away. It’s the worst part of the film (and the book, though it happens a bit differently in the book). 

The main part of the film takes place when five of these characters are heading towards an estate house in Scotland, which is half owned by Oscar, and half by Sam’s godfather. There’s some confusion at first (and a massive coincidence that this house has lain empty for a while and is suddenly occupied by so many at the same time. But Rosamunde Pilcher did tend to include this kind of situation in her novels). 

It’s a character-based film, like the book, although there are several subplots. I last read the book ‘Winter Solstice’ in 2018, so I was quite hazy on some of the details. I know that Carrie was Lucy’s aunt in the book, rather than her sister, and that Elfrida was rather older - comfortably retired, rather than penniless. But the basic outline and ideas are much the same. It doesn’t matter. Films and books are different media, and I’m not one who wants every detail to match. 

The scenery is gorgeous, the pace just right for our tastes. Elfrida, we thought, was perfectly cast, as was Lucy who manages to be a moody, sometimes angry teenager to perfection. Oscar is less believable; he and Elfrida have a good chemistry but he seems to get over his terrible tragedy to some extent rather rapidly. Others are more minor, and are sufficiently realistic that I was totally caught up in the story. 

It’s a couple of hours, so longer than most modern films, but felt like exactly the right length. There’s a bit of humour - particularly involving the delightful countess who appears towards the end of the film although it’s low-key and doesn’t detract from the poignancy and light romance of the story.  

The ending, if somewhat predictable and open-ended, is encouraging for all concerned. Since this film was made for TV it doesn't have a UK rating, but I would expect PG or possibly 12, since there are a couple of scenes of people in bed after what was clearly a night of intimacy. There is also some minor violence when a fight erupts, and some bad language, though nothing too extreme. It's not likely to be of interest to anyone younger than about twelve anyway. 

Definitely recommended if you like a gentle, sometimes moving film that’s lightly Christmassy at the end. I still prefer the book, however.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Winter Solstice (Sinéad Cusack)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over eleven years since we watched the made-for-TV film ‘Winter Solstice’, based loosely on a book of the same name written by Rosamunde Pilcher. So it seemed like a good idea to re-watch it last night.

The story opens with Elfrida (Sinéad Cusack) scattering the ashes of her late husband. When I read the book ‘Winter Solstice’, about fourteen years ago, I thought Elfrida was quite elderly. She’s supposed to be sixty-three… and when I was in my early forties that age seemed a long way off. Watching the film last night, it struck me how young and lively she seemed… I would have guessed that she was in her mid-fifties.

Oscar (Jan Niklas) is supposed to be considerably younger than Elfrida, but I’d have put him at around fifty. Not that it mattered. Oscar and Elfrida have a good friendship, and Elfrida becomes very fond of his daughter Francesca. Then disaster strikes… an incident which comes early in the book, and which is dramatic and shocking in the film. I didn't remember Francesca having an older half-brother, the selfish and unpleasant Giles.

Most of the story takes place when several diverse and not entirely compatible people find themselves staying in a remote house in Scotland. There are some unlikely coincidences - two people, connected with the two co- owners of the house, both deciding to stay there at the same time, for instance. More unlikely still is that Sam, a young businessman, happens to arrive at the same time as Carrie, a young woman he sat next to on an aeroplane. I don’t remember if the latter coincidence was in the book; evidently I should re-read it soon.

There are some changed details which didn’t matter too much. Carrie is supposed to be aunt to the teenage Lucy, whose father has remarried in the book. In the film, Carrie is her older half-sister, with a very flaky mother. I don’t remember Lucy being caught up in computer games in the book, but perhaps she was. Nor do I recall anything about a business venture, Sam having to make people redundant, or a whisky distillery. But if those were in the book, I may well have skimmed over them as I prefer the relationship parts of the book.

While the scenery and photography were excellent, in places, I was a tad irritated, as I was the first time I saw the book, that there was so little snow. The book has these unlikely characters snowed up for a few days, not wanting to celebrate Christmas at all. The film has surprisingly balmy weather, where people don’t even need to wrap up particularly warmly, and only a sprinkling of snow after the Christmas Eve midnight communion service.

Overall, I thought it a very enjoyable film. I wasn’t expecting it to be the same as the book this time, so wasn’t disappointed. The characters were well-cast, and I thought the pace about right for a character-driven story of this kind. My husband is happy to watch this kind of film with me, and also enjoyed it although he commented that some of the sound was not quite correct. I hadn’t noticed.

The rating is PG, which I think is probably right. There’s the shocking scene I mentioned earlier, and quite a violent tussle later in the book. There are a couple of ‘morning after’ bedroom scenes, although no explicit nudity or intimacies. There’s not much bad language, although the word ‘God’ is used as an expletive several times, including (rather oddly) at least once by the Vicar.

The story is quite intense in places too, but since it mostly concerns adults and their relationships, the film is unlikely to appeal to anyone below the age of about fifteen.

I would recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of gentle character-driven story, with the proviso that you should not expect it to be closely connected with Rosamunde Pilcher’s novel ‘Winter Solstice’.

Review copyright 2018 Sue's DVD Reviews

Winter Solstice (Sinéad Cusack, Jan Niklas)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m a huge fan of Rosamunde Pilcher’s novels, and have recently started collecting some of the films based on them. My husband is unlikely ever to read books of this kind, but enjoys movies and adaptations of books - and in general, they make pleasant viewing.

'Winter Solstice' is the last saga novel Pilcher wrote, and, in my view, her very best. It's a poignant story about an elderly woman's friendship with a local family, which is shattered when tragedy strikes. She then goes away for a while for some space... only to be joined by more and more needy people in various circumstances, who find themselves stranded over Christmas, due to the weather.

There isn't really a great deal of plot as such, but many intertwining sub-plots, and some totally delightful people of all ages. It would, I thought, make a wonderful film. This adaptation was made for television, which - I assumed - would allow the director to meander through the story, keeping relatively close to Pilcher's original.

I was wrong.

I suppose that 'based on’ the book is an accurate description, since there were indeed the same major characters, and the same overall idea of diverse people gathering together in the winter.

But that's where the resemblance stops. Well, to be fair, I did recognise some of the storylines as one might recognise a long-lost friend after many cosmetic changes. But it wasn't the book by Rosamunde Pilcher. I really do prefer movies to stick more closely to the original. I understand that some parts must be left out, and other sections have to be shown differently for good drama. But I don’t much like extra sub-plots and characters being introduced.

Having said that, this was an excellent romantic family-type film. Once I had decided to forget about the book and concentrate on enjoying what I was watching, I found that I did - very much - despite its variances from the book. So although purists would probably be disappointed, I would recommend this to anyone. My husband loved it, and I did too. Even though I'd like to see a real adaptation of Pilcher's 'Winter Solstice' one day!

(Note that 'Winter Solstice' alone is not always available at Amazon in the UK; it's packaged with a movie called 'Summer Solstice' which is apparently loosely based on some of the same characters but bears no relation at all to Pilcher's writings).

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews