This film is currently unavailable
Akenfield
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
Director: Peter Hall
Overview
Based on Ronald Blythe’s much-loved oral history book, Akenfield traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry, with director Peter Hall – known for his theatre direction - using to great effect a cast non-professional actors drawn from the communities of several Suffolk villages.
With all three generations grandfather, father and son performed by the same actor (local farmer Garrow Shand), the film paints a compelling picture of a traditional way of life facing a period of great change, brought about by the industrialisation of the twentieth century. A profoundly romantic work of sublime poetic realism, Akenfield boasts a sweeping, rhapsodic orchestral score composed by Michael Tippett (Fantasia Concertante on a theme by Corelli) that resonates with the film’s beautiful Impressionistic cinematography, which captures seasonal changes as the film was shot on weekends only across nine months. Restored through Unlocking Film Heritage, Akenfield is the centrepiece of the BFI’s Rural Life season, which can be experienced through BFI Player’s Britain on Film map.
moderate sex
Related
Mona Lisa Mona Lisa
Gangster 1986 100 mins Director: Neil Jordan
An ungainly cockney chauffeur navigates the seedy streets of London, gradually falling for the elegant and mysterious prostitute who is his passenger.
The Outrun The Outrun
Drama 2024 118 mins Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Saoirse Ronan gives a bracing performance as a young recovering alcoholic returning home to Orkney in this moving adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir.
Birdy Birdy
Drama 1984 120 mins Director: Alan Parker
Alan Parker’s elliptical, ethereal adaptation of the acclaimed, ‘unfilmable’ novel by William Wharton, about a boy who dreams of flying.
The Florida Project The Florida Project
Drama 2017 112 mins Director: Sean Baker
Anora director Sean Baker's visionary portrait of life in America’s underbelly, featuring an Oscar-nominated turn from Willem Dafoe.
The Streetwalker The Streetwalker
Drama 1976 86 mins Director: Walerian Borowczyk
A salesman becomes obsessed by an icy prostitute against the backdrop of a hellish Paris, in this arthouse erotica from Walerian Borowczyk (The Beast)
The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao
Drama 2019 140 mins Director: Karim Aïnouz
A moving, sumptuous tale of two sisters cruelly separated by family and fate in 1950s Rio.
La Belle et la Bête La Belle et la Bête
Fantasy 1946 95 mins Director: Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau’s ravishingly restored 1946 film is a cinematic classic.
Lonely Water Lonely Water
1973 2 mins
Terrifying public information film presenting the horrific consequences of playing in or near rivers, ponds and other water hazards.
The Children of Eskdale The Children of Eskdale
Documentary 1973 55 mins Location: Whitby
Five siblings run free over fields, feed the farm animals, pine for a pony or spotty dog, and a school dance exactly illustrates the difference between girls and boys.
Onibaba Onibaba
Period drama 1964 102 mins Director: Kaneto Shindo
Stylish, symbolic and erotically charged Japanese horror in which the fortunes of a murderous mother-and-daughter team are upended by a strangely masked samurai.
The White Reindeer The White Reindeer
Horror 1953 68 mins Director: Erik Blomberg
The wife of a reindeer herder acquires a potion to make her an irresistible object of desire, but at a terrible cost, in this extraordinary vampiric fairy-tale set amongst the starkly beautiful fells of Finnish Lapland.
Night Tide Night Tide
Film noir 1961 85 mins Director: Curtis Harrington
Dennis Hopper is on shore leave when he falls for a woman who performs as a mermaid, in this cult classic from Curtis Harrington.
Mona Lisa Mona Lisa
Gangster 1986 100 mins Director: Neil Jordan
An ungainly cockney chauffeur navigates the seedy streets of London, gradually falling for the elegant and mysterious prostitute who is his passenger.
Showgirls Showgirls
Melodrama 1995 126 mins Director: Paul Verhoeven
Reviled upon its release, now reclaimed as a cult classic - one can only submit to the trash-tastic delights of Paul Verhoeven's erotic disasterpiece.
The Outrun The Outrun
Drama 2024 118 mins Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Saoirse Ronan gives a bracing performance as a young recovering alcoholic returning home to Orkney in this moving adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir.
Birdy Birdy
Drama 1984 120 mins Director: Alan Parker
Alan Parker’s elliptical, ethereal adaptation of the acclaimed, ‘unfilmable’ novel by William Wharton, about a boy who dreams of flying.
The Florida Project The Florida Project
Drama 2017 112 mins Director: Sean Baker
Anora director Sean Baker's visionary portrait of life in America’s underbelly, featuring an Oscar-nominated turn from Willem Dafoe.
The Streetwalker The Streetwalker
Drama 1976 86 mins Director: Walerian Borowczyk
A salesman becomes obsessed by an icy prostitute against the backdrop of a hellish Paris, in this arthouse erotica from Walerian Borowczyk (The Beast)