COUNTRY LIFE

When COUNTRY LIFE, based on Chekov’s play “Uncle Vanya,” opens, Sally and her handsome, hard-working Uncle John are eagerly waiting for Sally’s father Alexander to return to the farm after a 20-year absence. Since the death of Sally’s mother, Alexander has lived his life in England as a theater critic. His return to the farm with his young wife Deborah is highly anticipated and everyone wants everything to be at its best when Alexander arrives. Anticipation soon gives way to frustration, however, as Alexander and Deborah immediately prove themselves to be a pompous, stuffy, selfish, self-centered, lecherous boors. Yet, the entire household goes out of their way to make them welcome. Jealousy also rears its head as a love quadrangle begins to interfere with the status quo. Uncle John and family friend, Dr. Aksey, both become infatuated with Deborah and neither understands her (apparently unsatisfactory) marriage to a much older, priggish buffoon of a husband.

High on character study, and low on plot, this film is more of a “slice of life” than a story. The acting and the setting adequately convey the pastoral and simple ways of the country inhabitants. The contrast between the city folk and the country folk provide warmth and humor, but as it produces whimsy, it also shows the universality of sin through attempted adultery and unfulfilled dreams.