Dir. Carla Simón
Year. 2022
Country: Spain
Run-time: 120 mins
Rating: 15
Suggested: £6.00 (£4.50 conc.)
Doors: 1.30pm Film: 2pm
10% discount on drinks. Just show your ticket at the bar.
At the start of Carla Simón’s wonderful second drama feature, there is a bombshell for the Solé family – a gentleman’s agreement that allowed the family to make a living from their peach orchards for three generations will no longer be honoured. Without any written agreement, they learn that after this year’s harvest, the trees will be pulled up and replaced by solar panels. A devastating blow that effects each member of this warm extended family.
At first, life carries on as usual; there are fiestas, siestas, family feasts all set against the communal struggles of bringing in a harvest. But slowly fissures appear in this close-knit family as they confront the brutal rupture in their way of life.
Filmed in just 8 weeks over one summer harvest, Simón cast non-professional actors from the Catalan region in which the story unfolds. This, for me, is the reason for the emotional power of the film. For the audience, the natural, intimate tone created by these astonishingly tender performances, makes it feel as though we are watching a documentary. We are right there with the family, willing for them to overcome this injustice. A beautiful, heart-breaking drama, not to be missed.
And if you enjoy this film, we recommend that you watch Simón’s equally fantastic first movie, Summer 1993. The natural, quirky performances in both films, especially those of the children, are extraordinary.
“The power of Alcarràs lies in the filmmaker’s care for and understanding of her subject which, as with Summer 1993, is a story taken from her own life and examined on screen with a deceiving charm that gives way to a deeply emotional narrative. It is a joy to watch, too, for all its moments of simplicity and practical work: as mothers and sisters peel peaches with paring knives and encase them in glossy syrups, as fruits tumble in their hundreds from buckets into pallets, or as parents teach children how to find the ripest crop, passing down their legacy at every turn.”
“Carla Simón’s award-winning story of a peach farmer struggling to make ends meet asks many important questions about our relationship with the land and the human cost of progress… a deeply intelligent, humane drama.”
