
Life in a Year
2020

Some truths are better left unsaid.
After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.

After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.
Michelle FairleyMillie
Bouli LannersPhil
Cal MacAninchPeter
Clovis CornillacBenoit
Julian GloverAngus
Anne Kidd
Donald Douglas
Thérèse BradleyNear the start of this film, we hear a weather forecast on the car radio advising sunny spells are imminent. Well they didn't come, nor are there really any other sunny moments in this story. Set on the rather dark, bleak and wintry Isle of Lewis, we meet "Phil" (auteur Bouli Landers) who works as a general factotum with "Brian" (Andrew Still) who is the grandson of the smallholding owner "Angus" (Julian Glover). The two workers bond well enough during their largely outdoor, and muddy, endeavours and also over a pint afterwards where the former man discovers that the young man's aunt "Millie" (Michelle Fairley) is looked upon rather disdainfully by others in their small community. It's only when "Phil" suffers a stroke on the beach, that this lady comes forward to help his recuperation, and in the process tells quite a big "white" lie that sets the scene for the rest of this drama. It's a very slow burn with, frankly, a very thin plot but the acting is quite genuine and the island environment and tightly knit family scenario does add a bit of richness to the increasingly predicable outcome. I've seen Fairley on stage a few times and she is a good actress at delivering the less is more style, but here there are just too many lingering shots, driving to and fro, having a cigarette meaningfully - without really developing the characters enough, nor really explaining while the originally Belgian visitor is there in the first place. It's nicely shot, but just rather unremarkable.

2020

2009

2016

2016

2005

2020

2013

2022

2022

2001

2020

2009

2020

2020

2000

2020

1984

2005

1998

2014