| Cold Comfort Farm | |
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US theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Schlesinger |
| Produced by | Alison Gilby Richard Broke |
| Screenplay by | Malcolm Bradbury |
| Based on | Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons |
| Starring | Kate Beckinsale Joanna Lumley Ian McKellen Rufus Sewell |
| Music by | Robert Lockhart |
| Cinematography | Chris Seager |
| Editing by | Mark Day |
| Studio | Thames Television |
| Distributed by | BBC (UK) Gramercy Pictures (US) |
| Release date(s) | 1 January 1995 (United Kingdom TV) 10 May 1996 (United States theatrical) |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $5,682,429[1] |
Cold Comfort Farm is a 1995 British romantic comedy film directed by John Schlesinger and produced by the BBC and Thames Television, an adaptation of Stella Gibbons' 1932 book of the same name, the film stars Kate Beckinsale, Joanna Lumley, Ian McKellen, and Rufus Sewell. Originally broadcast on 1 January 1995 on the BBC, it was Schlesinger's final film shot in his home country England, and was picked up for theatrical release in North America through Gramercy Pictures, where it was a small success.
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Flora Poste (Kate Beckinsale), a young orphan in the 1920s, moves in with her eccentric and backward relatives, the Starkadders. The Starkadders live in a run-down farm off the beaten track in Sussex. Flora decides to rehabilitate and modernize them.
She first removes the head of the family (Ian McKellen), an amateur preacher with his own entourage of timid followers, by encouraging him to go on a preaching tour. This leaves the farm in the far more capable hands of his elder son. She introduces the very lusty and handsome younger son to an American film producer, and so gets rid of him as well. She marries off the poetry-addicted gypsy daughter after coaching her in manners, deportment, and fashion. She connects the chronically-depressed mother (Eileen Atkins) with a famed psychiatrist, who takes a great interest in her. The greatest challenge is her domineering Aunt Ada Doom, whom she eventually convinces to go on a tour of Europe.
Cold Comfort Farm received generally positive reviews; it currently holds an 84% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[2] During its theatrical release in North America, the film grossed $5,682,429.[1]
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