Written by Linda
March 02, 2009
Ioan Gruffudd is a very beautiful Welsh man. Very, very beautiful. Thick, dark curly hair. Strong jaw. Excellent eyebrows. After the screening of Solomon and Gaenor at the 2000 Seattle International Film Festival, the filmgoers I chatted with (while we wiped our eyes) couldn't say much about the movie except, "Now, WHO was that actor???
The Welsh countryside is also beautiful in a cold, muddy, rainy, rocky way that I, at least, think looks really cool on film. Having a bleak, wet, moonscape of a background in a film is often like adding another character to a film, supplying an atmosphere of brooding despair to already tormented and forlorn film plots. No one can be happy living in such a place, can they? The folks in Solomon and Gaenor are no exception.
The story, however, is pretty typical Romeo and Juliet (they shouldn't be together! but they love each other!). It is 1911 Wales, and Ioan (Solomon) is Jewish and Anne Shirley, I mean Gaenor, is Christian (my god though, the actress looks JUST like Megan Follows from the Anne of Green Gables mini-series!!!). They sneak around, hiding from their families' disapproval until they are caught. Hilarity ensues. Tragedy follows.
There is nothing really surprising in the plot. The side characters are pretty negligible, but the two stars have enough charm and good looks to keep you interested in an otherwise pretty predictable story. The consequences of their actions are inevitable, but you still can't help but feel for the poor sods. When you finish this film, you'll just want to put on some fuzzy warm clothes, boil up a cup of hot tea, and sit in front of a fire until you regain some hope in humanity.
* This film was nominated for the 1999 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, but lost to Spain's All About My Mother.
