Last September [DVD] [2000] [US Import] [NTSC]

It tells of a family, the Naylors, who "try hard not to notice" that the prevailaged, Protestant world of which they are part is being swept away. Louis, the daughter of the house is more concerned with falling in love, but when she does so, the relationship is terminated by her mother, who considers her beau not to be of the right background - his suburban Middlesex home being an unsuitable match for glamorous County Cork. Across the beatiful lawns of their house we see distant, shadowy figures running Rebublican errands and outwitting the British soldiers stationed nearby.

The Naylors, and Louis in particular, are placed in an awkward dilemma: their livelyhood depends upon a certain amount of goodwill from their Republican neighbours and tennants, but everyone presumes them to be in league with the British. The consequenses of this conflict of interests touches every aspect of the Naylors' lives.

This is director Debora Warner's first venture into cinema: it is a brave choice for a first-timer. Elizabeth Bowen's book is one of atmospheres and emotions rather than a linear plot, and Warner use lengthy shots of deserted clockwork gramophones and rope-swings spinning from trees to illustrate the pungent passages of prose for whch Bowen was famous (Seamus Heanney refered to them as Bowen 747s). But these cinematic interludes, though beatufully shot, can never fulfil the purpose of descriptive prose.

However, the cast is suberb and Maggie Smith is wonderful as the aparently absent-minded mother, Lady Naylor. It is the cast that save this film and it is worth seeing for their performances alone. But this is not an ideal book to turn into a film and the introduction of a violent sexual episode (not present in Bowen's novel) illustrates Warner's insecurity about producing a film in which nothing really happens; but that is precisely the point of the novel.

For lovers of Bowen's work and those interested in the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy , this is a must-see. For others, give it a go - the cinematography is captivating - but don't be surprised if it leaves you none the wiser about the extraordinary atmosphere and period in which it is set.