Cold Comfort Farm (1996)
85%RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 BAFTA Award
2 wins & 4 nominations total
Cold Comfort Farm sends up high-minded classics with a wit and impressive restraint that rivals its inspirations
Cold Comfort Farm is a classic English comedy that will have you laughing out loud. The film is a mischievous send-up of serious rural romances, and it’s full of wonderful eccentrics. The characters are amusing rather than pitiable, thanks to the witty script and exacting direction. The film spoofs writers like D.H. Lawrence and Mary Webb, and it’s a sweet, sprightly comedy that’s perfect for a cozy night in. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the hilarity of Cold Comfort Farm!
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Gramercy Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
UK
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG for brief sensuality and language
Year of Release
1996
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Stereo
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 44m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United Kingdom
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): May 10, 1996 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 2, 2003
Genre(s)
Comedy
Keyword(s)
starring Kate Beckinsale, Sheila Burrell, Eileen Atkins, Ian McKellen, Ivan Kaye, Rufus Sewell, Joanna Lumley, directed by John Schlesinger, written by Stella Gibbons and Malcolm Bradbury, comedy, TVPG, box office gross $5.6M, reviewed by Lisa Schwarzbaum, Geoff Andrew, Emanuel Levy, Nell Minow, Kevin Thomas, Desson Thomson, Cole Smithey, Philip Martin, Kate Beckinsale as Flora Poste, Sheila Burrell as Ada Doom, Eileen Atkins as Judith Starkadder, Ian McKellen as Amos Starkadder, Ivan Kaye as Reuben Starkadder, Rufus Sewell as Seth Starkadder, Joanna Lumley as Mary, produced by Alison Gilby
Worldwide gross: $5,682,429
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $10,846,311
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,944
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,182,804
US/Canada gross: $5,682,429
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $10,846,311
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,596
US/Canada opening weekend: $66,427
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $126,792
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,848
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Sheila Burrell – Ada Doom
Eileen Atkins – Judith Starkadder
Ian McKellen – Amos Starkadder
Ivan Kaye – Reuben Starkadder
Rufus Sewell – Seth Starkadder
Director(s)
John Schlesinger
Writer(s)
Stella Gibbons, Malcolm Bradbury
Producer(s)
Alison Gilby
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 BAFTA Award
2 wins & 4 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (40) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (7)
September 7, 2011 | Rating: A
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
Malcolm Bradbury’s script and John Schlesinger’s direction … between them coarsen, soften and simply lose much of Gibbons’ extraordinarily sophisticated, wonderfully funny humour …
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Schelsinger’s masterfully directed eccentric satire is based on Stella Gibbons’ 1933 book which spoofs the serious, soul-searching, rural-set stories of writers like D.H. Lawrence and Mary Webb.
June 2, 2006 | Rating: 4.5/5
Emanuel Levy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
January 15, 2004 | Rating: 4/5
Nell Minow
Movie Mom
TOP CRITIC
What could be more welcome than a classic English comedy, bristling with wit and hilarity and crammed with wonderful eccentrics?
February 14, 2001
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Thanks to Schlesinger’s exacting direction and Malcolm Bradbury’s witty, restrained script, these characters are kept more amusing than horribly pitiable.
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
[A] mischievous send-up of D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy and assorted other high-toned practitioners of grimly serious rural romances.
July 18, 2014 | Rating: 3/4
Joe Leydon
The Moving Picture Show
May 2, 2009 | Rating: 3/5
Robert Levin
Critic’s Notebook
Sweet, sprightly made-for-British-TV comedy.
May 30, 2008
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
November 7, 2005 | Rating: 4/5
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
June 11, 2005 | Rating: 4/5
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
January 27, 2005 | Rating: 2/5
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette…
Plot
In England in the early 1930s, twenty-year-old Flora Poste (Kate Beckinsale), recently orphaned, and left with only one hundred pounds sterling a year, goes to stay with distant relatives on Cold Comfort Farm. Everyone on the gloomy farm is completely around the twist, but Flora tries to sort everything out.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Joanna Lumley has a fun cameo as the Aunt with a passion for bustiers and bras in Cold Comfort Farm.
John-Schlesinger.jpg
