God’s Own Country (2017)

Directed by: Francis Lee | 104 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Josh O’Connor, Gemma Jones, Harry Lister Smith, Ian Hart, Alec Secareanu, Melanie Kilburn, Liam Thomas, Patsy Ferran, Moey Hassan, Naveed Choudhry, Sarah White, John McCrea, Alexander Suvandjiev, Stefan Dermendjiev

Yorkshire, with its green valleys, mysterious moors and soaring peaks, is by far the UK’s largest traditional county at 15,000 square kilometers. The region is blessed with three beautiful natural parks, a rich history, a vibrant cultural wealth and a spectacular coastline. The British affectionately call the area “God’s Own Country” because it looks like someone “up there” had a hand in it. Many famous British writers were inspired by Yorkshire; Emily Brontë’s classic love story ‘Wuthering Heights’ is set on the melancholy moors around Halifax and Haworth, and ‘Jane Eyre’, written by Emily’s sister Charlotte, is also set in Yorkshire. Writer, director and actor Francis Lee grew up in west Yorkshire, where his father ran a farm. As a teenager, he says he fled the countryside to seek happiness in London. But Yorkshire is so deeply rooted in him that his first feature film, logically named ‘God’s Own Country’ (2017), would be set in those parts. “I wanted to explore what my life would have been like if I had stayed in Yorkshire and met someone there who clicked.” According to Lee, the hard life in the countryside offers young people little or no space to explore emotions and relationships. “The daily care of the animals consumes all your time and energy.”

John Saxby (strong, intense role by Josh O’Connor) is just the kind of boy Lee once was. He spends his days working hard on the livestock farm of his father Martin (Ian Hart), who is no longer able to do the heavy work himself after a stroke. Grandma Deidre (Gemma Jones) is not physically strong enough for outdoor work. So a lot comes down to John, which not only wears him out but also frustrates him. When the work is done, he dives into the pub to fill up and return home exhausted. His sexual frustrations are expressed in loveless casual contacts. After he has sold a ox for good money at the cattle market, he dives into a caravan with a boy (Harry Lister Smith). When the boy then asks to have a drink together, he rejects that bone. As spring approaches and the sheep have to lamb, Martin decides to hire a temporary worker to support John on the farm. Reluctantly, John picks him up at the station in his rickety pickup. It turns out the Romanian Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu), a hardworking, positive boy who – despite the not too warm welcome – knows how to bring out the best in John. The subcutaneous, sexual tension is palpable from the start; Gheorghe appears to strike just the right chord to break open John’s strong armor with which he has been able to shield his emotional world all this time.

Francis Lee has made a universal film about love with ‘God’s Own Country’. Because yes, it happens to be two men who fall for each other in this film, but no point is made about homosexuality. And so it should be. Lee also tries not to make a (political) statement, about homosexuality or about immigrant workers or whatever. His film is purely about love. On the one hand there is the budding love between two men who have a completely different life, but have more in common than they think beforehand, on the other there is the film maker’s love for the area where his cradle stood. For the landscape, but also for the habits and customs. That profound love is expressed, among other things, in an extremely careful approach; Lee wanted to make his film as authentic as possible. The ‘props’ used really come from the farm where the film was shot, the actors had to actually work on the land – in clothes bought in local shops – and live as the locals live. Even the sounds are true to nature, recorded on location. “It was the only way for me to get it perfect,” Lee said. “My father still works as a sheep farmer in Yorkshire and he would be very critical if it weren’t true.” Lee’s approach works perfectly, because whoever watches the film actually imagines himself among the sheep in the green valley; you feel the wind blowing through your hair and the cold rain seeping right through your clothes.

The characters are also lifelike. The dour John, whose mother abandoned the family years ago, shuts himself off from his feelings. He doesn’t want to disappoint anyone, especially his father, but he doesn’t know what to do with his feelings and emotions. It is an established fact that he will take over the company from his father. Whether or not he wants to is not talked about, just that he wants to do it in his own way. But that’s not what ‘God’s Own Country’ is about. It’s about acknowledging and admitting your emotions. Gheorghe accepts John as he is, opens up to him. It takes a long time before John dares to admit his feelings. He is afraid to be vulnerable. The entire cast is excellent, with O’Connor and Hart leading the way. O’Connor stars as the unruly John, who uses his grumpiness as a mask and drinks himself drowsy to avoid feeling. Hart has a physically demanding role – Martin is partially paralyzed by his stroke, and it’s not getting better – and is just as sullen as his son. His frustrations revolve around worrying about the survival of his business, when he himself is powerless and sad as John throws his life away in the pub. Gheorghe’s intervention also appears to be conducive to the distant relationship between father and son. Grandma Gemma Jones is the conscience in the film; on the one hand she is concerned about the choices John makes, on the other she understands better than anyone that it is of the utmost importance that John must find the pleasure in his life again. Otherwise, the business is definitely lost.

‘God’s Own Country’ is a beautiful, layered and universal love story about a young man who can’t handle his emotions because he was never taught to. A very personal document by director and screenwriter Frances Lee, in which the love for the countryside from his youth seeps through from every pore. As chilly as the wind and rain can be on the endless pastures of Yorkshire and as harsh as farm life can be there, Lee embraces his characters, their relationships and his native soil with warmth and tenderness.