The Levelling (2016) User Reviews

Bleak, if atmospheric

[euroGary · 7/10 · 26 October 2016]

Immediately before going to see "The Levelling" at the 2016 London Film Festival, I had watched on television "Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages", in which the actress travels around the UK visiting villages and glorying in their thatched cottages, cream teas and lovable eccentricities (Morris dancers, etc). "The Levelling" shows the other side of the rural coin...

'Clover' would be a good name for a cow, but dairy farmer Aubrey instead lumbered his unfortunate daughter with the name. As a young adult, Clover leaves the farm to study animal medicine, but just before her final examinations she is forced to return to deal with her brother Harry's suicide, Aubrey's simmering resentment, the farm's precarious financial position and the aftermath of devastating floods.

As Clover, Ellie Kendrick (probably best known for "Game of Thrones") delivers a variable performance: Clover's frustration with Aubrey's refusal to take her seriously is well-essayed, but the device of hiccoughing back the first word of a sentence in order to show bewilderment ("What - what do you mean?") grows old very quickly and at times Clover comes across as little more than a stroppy teenager instead of a capable, educated woman. As Aubrey, David Troughton does his best with the kind of antagonistic character he often seems to play, and Jack Holden is perfectly competent in the film's only other major role, that of Harry's friend James. The ultimate revelation of why Harry committed suicide is unlikely to surprise any viewer, and it is all very bleak - both the characters' situation, and the grey and damp farm in which they live. But the film is atmospheric, and if it turns up on television I might watch it again.

Well played yet dour

[jonathan-harris17 · 5/10 · 30 December 2017]

A young woman (Kendrick) returns to the family farm after many years, due to tragedy -- her lone brother's apparent suicide -- and grapples with a difficult situation and a combative relationship with her father.

A very British film to me: fine performances from both Kendrick and Troughton both controlled and realistically playing their parts, moody well-shot rural scenes providing some atmosphere to the bleak world: yet also one exhaustively dour, thin on plot, drama.

It's clearly sincere in the portrayal of the realities of modern farming and rural life, which may well be it's main drive alongside the similar-yet-different father\daughter relationship, but this left me cold.

depressing reality

[kmevler · 5/10 · 20 August 2017]

to rhondasmit "Miserable": yes, this farm appears badly run. dead mum, floods, brink of financial ruin, then suicide of heir apparent. god-awful patriarch unable to cope. daughter ran away long ago.

i don't think this film was supposed to be a study in good farm management, good animal husbandry, or exemplary familial bonds. rather - it reflects the reality of most people as flawed human beings with mostly flawed coping mechanisms. sorrow, remorse, depression, the daily grind of life's demands ('you get up and milk the cows every morning forever - this is your life') - it's a depressing movie. why would anyone want to live and work on a farm where litter is left lying about and everything is mired in muck. perhaps that's the point.

plot devices are moderately rudimentary: make the vegan veterinarian daughter kill the newborn calf "so the mother won't get attached to it" with the same gun (i think) that the brother had used to kill himself - that was just needlessly ham-handed (or beef-handed?) audience manipulation. ending pretty predictable. dad crying, daughter protagonist crying, sky crying on funeral day. acting was OK given unlikable characters. time-line too short for any character growth.

so if you want to be thoroughly depressed, watch this film. at least it's honest enough to not offer some crap Disney-esque happy-ever- after only found in fairy tales. the ending leaves a tiny sliver of hope for those so inclined. if you want unrealistic happy 'farminess" - go watch "Babe".

Good movie though somewhat banal story

[valadas · 7/10 · 20 October 2022]

The young girl Clover comes back to her former home to investigate why her brother Harry committed suicide. This puts her in conflict with her father Aubrey who cannot (or does not) explain why her brother killed herself during a party that was taking place at the time. And besides that she finds her former house and farm almost economically ruined. The movie is well performed by both main performers, father and daughter but the story is a bit too banal. In the end father and daughter fall in love with each other again. Anyway it can be watched willlingly since its dramatic development has some quality.

A difficult film to appreciate even though it was so well done.

[Healing_Process · 7/10 · 21 July 2021]

"The Levelling" is a film that was naturally melancholy with characters that had believable personalities. Artistically patient with a feeling of me spying on the characters in their quiet Somerset life.

This was a Drama in every form of the connotation. I felt the ratio for the gloom and melodrama didn't proportionately represent the problems and troubles we were being presented to on the screen. This was the hard sell for me. I feel this was more of a problem of it being a full feature film rather than a short film. To have the 1h23m time, they seemed to have built up the suspense of her brother's death as if some huge grand scheme was happening that she didn't know about while she was gone. It was difficult for me to really sympathize with the main character because I felt she had no real strings attached to the turmoil that she was in. She could of easily left and easy as she got in and there was no prior or present time introduction to strengthen how much her brother's death meant to her.

It did do a good job showing the hardships of catastrophe, disasters, and small mishaps that can shape our lives and change how we address people; even the ones we love.

It was a good film, nothing to write home about and all the actors played their part as intended. It would not be worth a watch more than once and if you are into dramas that actually show the shaping of character development, this is worth the time.

This country life

[paul2001sw-1 · 6/10 · 6 February 2023]

Hope Dickson-Leach's film 'The Levelling' tells the bleak story of Clover, a young vet (and farmer's daughter), who returns hometo her depressed, irrational father after the suicide of her brother. The personal drama is convincing, but leaves you thinking that her sibling might have had the best of it. The acting (from David Troughton and Ellie kendrick in the lead roles) is better than the plot, which is devoid any sense of the possibility of hope; instead, we watch the final chapter of a family, already broken, finally falling apart. Some counter-balanacing elements to the story would not have gone amiss.

there are only a few movies that make me feel as if I'm spying on the characters

[lee_eisenberg · 8/10 · 21 August 2017]

"The Levelling" is one such movie. Shot in a naturalistic style, it truly feels as though you're learning more about this family than you should. It doesn't star anyone recognizable, giving a sense of realism. The young veterinarian's return to her family farm opens the door to multiple revelations not only about the recent tragedies, but about things that have been going on for a long time.

Only a few movies have been this much like a knife in the stomach. another was "The War Zone", about a family that discovers an ugly secret. I recommend both movies, and I'm eager to see Hope Dickson Leach's next movie.

Miserable

[rhondasmit · 1/10 · 24 July 2017]

Just horrible.

When it comes to the factual... these people should not be allowed around animals. This is no way to run a dairy - or to treat a dog for that matter. Apparently they have never heard about basic biosecurity measures. Their milking parlor is filthy, they don't clean the teats properly, reuse wipes and dip cup, even though it is designed to be dumped/single use, and I shudder to think where the milk goes. Heck, TB is the least of their worries.

I have never encountered a dairy that didn't have a plan for the bull calves (even with AI and heifer-select semen you still get about 30% bull calves, you either veal out or sell to become hamburger steers). Since a calf is necessary to milk a cow, you are hoping for a heifer - true - but you take a bull calf. It is not a disaster, nor do you go shooting and burning it.

You cannot hide TB, since milk gets tested regularly (for antibiotics, somatic cell count and pathogens like TB). If your whole herd is infected, they have to be destroyed, true enough - but how exactly was the daughter's presence going to ward off a bacterial pathogen, apparently water borne? And why would she give up her future with a possible income-producing job to move back to a sinking ship, especially with a 'father' like that? And shooting infected cows long distance in the field, that is beyond stupid.

It is sad when a family or a farm fails, but in this case, it was a nasty family, with no redeeming qualities I can think of, a badly run farm, and they live in a country with a generous social net, or they could get a job. Sh*t happens, life goes on (or not, if you choose suicide). Also, why not burn the badgers? Just makes no sense.

On top of that there is nothing to recommend this film, the cinematography is apparently done by cell phone, blurry, jumbled, just plain bad, all the actors are difficult to listen to or look at, and there is no coherent story worth telling. And forget about a score. We turned on CC and the only comment my husband made was: "That's not music", when the subtitles indicated that music was playing.

Frankly, I hated that the daughter became infantile and called for 'Daddy' at the end, when the man was a waste of space, who insisted on dragging those around him down. He probably killed his wife too.

Devastating

[silvio-mitsubishi · 8/10 · 21 September 2019]

Clover, a veterinary student returns to the family farm following a bereavement in the family. Her father is struggling with grief over far more than this latest loss, having given up a military career to take over the farm decades earlier.

Death stalks the story as Clover's relationship with her father, mother, brother and even family dogs is explored. I almost had a feeling of in amongst the action, learning about real people through meeting them and picking up pieces of the jigsaw from each in turn. The story is so convincing that I could imagine it being filmed sequentially, with the actors learning plot twists just as we do.

Watching critically, there were perhaps two occasions when characters reacted in ways I had not expected, but I realised that they were correct and it was my anticipation that was wrong. Every revelation was something long known about but ignored or repressed. The jolt of parts falling into place was tangible; not just Clover but Aubrey and James too made discoveries about themselves and others around them.

There was minimal theatricality. Characters came and went with no introductions or explanations. Helen's character was a tiny joy, a gem of a part. The weakest character was the vicar arranging the funeral. I understand why it was necessary, but I would expect her to lead parishioners to their own conclusions, not trot out some amateur psychology. Her limited screen time would have had to be much longer to accommodate that.

Death, mud, decay, rain and stoic acceptance of tragedy run as constant themes. Images of hares play the role performed by background music in lesser films, with one swimming, then sinking lifelessly, only for the closing shot to be a hare running in the inevitable rain. No easy answers in this film, but an astonishingly brave exercise in respecting the audience to fill gaps rather than having the script explain everything.

I would be interested to know whether Hope Dickson Leach had the idea already and the real flood was a fortuitous coincidence, whether it was a hastily put together (probably largely improvised) story in response to the damage, or some other combination of theme and natural circumstance.

Life gets tasteless don't it.

[aethomson · 5/10 · 26 April 2023]

Carson Robison sang it, farming is not for the faint-hearted. "The cow's gone dry and the hens won't lay, troubles pile up day by day. Grief and misery, pains and woes, debts and taxes, and so it goes."

There are parts of the world where farm output is measured in thousands of litres per week, but these rain-soaked acres in England ain't it. The flood of a few months ago made things a lot worse, but was this a viable dairying unit in the first place? Get rid of those cows, cut in some PVC field drainage with geotextile. Barley is used to make alcoholic beverages, muesli contains lots of oats.

Agriculture, emotional attachment, strained relationships and mental health issues - maybe they used to go together, but this combination was coming to rely increasingly on subsidies from the European Union. Is "The Levelling" about farming, or is it about a dysfunctional family who live on a farm? The technology doesn't seem to be much advanced on what was available in the 1930s. In this twenty-first century the cold-blooded business of converting soil fertility and sunshine into milk solids and butterfat entails zapping barcodes on ear-tags, uploading iPad data into laptops, and responding to endless on-line demands from government departments for information. And taxes.

In this film, family is everything, but when members of a family fall out, they're quite likely never to speak to each other again. We're simply expected to accept this dynamic, like it's a raw Scandinavian saga. It's something to do with the unforgiving land, and the malicious weather.

Aubrey the father (David Troughton) hands over the farm to his son to manage. Surely a poisoned chalice. Then the son kills himself. Clover (Ellie Kendrick) is about to complete her university qualifications in veterinary science, but she has to come back - to sort stuff out? Too many things don't make enough sense. The viewer is expected to fill in causes and effects. A cryptic crossword with ambiguous clues.

I hope "The Levelling" doesn't put young Britishers off farming. But you gotta love the land. Love it enough to compensate for the fact that the land does not love you. The land would rather be covered in forest, with squirrels and badgers.

Brilliantly atmospheric

[coreyjdenford · 8/10 · 10 May 2017]

This review of The Levelling is spoiler free

**** (4/5)

THERE ARE ONLY a handful of directors who have portrayed the true beautiful brutality of a British farmland society, a notable tick to The Witch which had a compelling story about a young witch it also had stunning cinematography - gloomy at times but thanks to this it captivated the beauty of it all. Once released it wouldn't take long for another director to follow in its footsteps.

These footsteps are followed by first-time writer-director Hope Dickson Leache, with her film The Levelling a stunningly brutal tale of a young woman who is forced to move back to her old life on a farm due to a hard loss in the family. It's hard to find an actor who can pull this off successfully, Leache found what she was looking for with Ellie Kendrick who plays her female lead, who also carries the film. Kendrick plays Clover Catto a young veterinarian trainee who is forced to live on a farm due to the loss of her younger brother, not too long after the floods of October 2014. As soon as she arrives at the place she hasn't been to in years, she feels a sense of hardship which, until her father Aubrey (David Troughton), arrives.

Dealing with him the man who told her to leave, to do what she wants at a young age, she hates him he plagues her with emotional torture and asks her to do work around the farm, this leads her to ask questions about what really happened to her brother. Aubrey calls it an accident; however, Clover isn't so sure, seemingly wanting to play detective searching for evidence around the site, putting her father's grief to the test. There's a heavy sense of guilt to him too, Clover takes this to her advantage and starts to surround him with questions - perhaps leading him to answer her.

Given Leache's direction, the film takes this all in hand captivatingly proving strength with its female lead but forgetting one initial detail - the cumulative impact. The Levelling gives us the emotional heft of dealing with death, a sense of place, and deep depression of older family members it's her father that feels the brunt of the grief, he always refers to better time and refuses to show emotion especially when Clover comes to the investigative moment that he may be involved. This is the main flaw.

A patchy flaw that's fixed by the film's nigh perfect premise, the flawless performances, the excellent screenplay and Leache's gentle, yet beautiful direction which flows. The Levelling isn't just one of the best debuts of recent years it's one of the best British films of recent years period.

VERDICT: Kendrick is fantastic in a toughly heart-warming British directorial debut, that's gently crafted by a pure modest scale of the countryside and a beautifully atmospheric tale.

Cheap

[westsideschl · 4/10 · 30 January 2018]

Overacted, a bit melodramatic - perhaps. Too many holes to fill in the story - seemed incomplete. Worst issue, especially for Canadian, Aussie, American and other English speakers outside of England is that the, at times, poor enunciation coupled with British English along with poor audio level control and then capped off with the cheap decision to not offer subtitles left most of the dialogue incomprehensible. Even when I had audio levels three times higher than usual for a film.

Bleak, dour, uneventful? Well that's life folks.

[MrBayren · 8/10 · 19 August 2018]

This is a compact film. Not a whole lot of plot points or ridiculous drama, it simply is a little story with lots of emotion. It almost comes across as a mystery with all the questions we have coming into the situation but I suppose from our characters point of view it is just that. The people around her dodge her questions like they have some secrets to hide which leads to some intrigue as a viewer but over time we come to learn the truth that they were trying to avoid. Someone close to them is gone and there is no easy answer as to why that had to be the case. Maybe the father should've tried to be more understanding of his son's struggle. Maybe Clover should've know better than stay away in spite of all troubles at home. They can try to blame whoever they want but ultimately whats done is done and that truth is what the characters need to come to terms with.

Like the father said 'despite it all I still have to get up and milk the cows in the morning'

Dour, uneventful and boring.

[CineviewUK · 1/10 · 6 March 2018]

There isn't even the slightest hint of a reason for the audience to invest any emotional or even intellectual empathy with any of the characters in this movie. There's no drama.. no investment at all - in fact watching it I found myself desperately trying to convince myself not to turn it off as "Something has GOT to happen soon???".

The opening shots of the film give you a clue as to what is to come... two establishing shots of a farm in the middle of nowhere that seem to last for 10 minutes (ok I exaggerate - but it feels like that!).. a montage of some naked guys doing something (???!!!).. no information about them is communicated at all. I guess we're supposed to assume her brother was drunk at this (unexplained) beach party??!! I have no idea!!

It's so boring after that. I just wish the naked guys had shown up again and at least put some life into it!

If you enjoy watching an actress do her best when essentially she has nothing to do, wander around a farm picking up shit and cleaning, while finding dead badgers then this film is for you!

If you LOVE caravans.. then oh jeez this will be a treat!!!!!

Otherwise.. don't spend money on it.

A very moving, well-paced and honest film

[balagesh · 10/10 · 6 August 2022]

Levelling means working away the unevenness of the ground. But I had a feeling that there was another meaning in psychology. I found this, " Leveling is when people keep out parts of stories and try to tone those stories down so that some parts are excluded." (Wiki) I think this is the key to understanding film. Our protagonist returns home for his brother's funeral and has to decipher what has happened over the past few months. It's a fascinating investigation. And through the grieving process and the rather complex parent-child relationship, we get a multi-layered story.

The protagonist (and it doesn't matter her gender; in the story it doesn't matter that she is the girl of the two children) is thrown back into her past. I really liked the way the behaviour of the educated and self-conscious woman who is about to become a vet is replaced, even in a single scene, by that of a vulnerable but strong little girl.

The worst film ever

[derekmiddleton · 1/10 · 2 January 2019]

If ever you needed proof that film critics are totally out of touch with reality, please watch this film and despair.

The British critics thought this was good. They also thought the unutterably appalling Field in England was good.

Any given episode of Trumpton was better acted.

Laughably inept film making.

Terrible sad, so well written

[dochito · 10/10 · 18 January 2019]

Awesome script, awesome actors, pretty sad story, so well done. Excellent.

Could've Been Quite Special, But.......

[mcjensen-05924 · 2/10 · 1 April 2024]

......Poor Decisions Dragged It Into Mediocrity. The lead female was attractive and effective in her role, I thought. The film had a dark, moody ambience which I rather enjoyed. Supporting cast was also good in their minimal roles, and there were some lovely scenes of the countryside. The story itself also had lots of potential to portray a compelling and tragic tale. But the glaring flaw in this was the casting of the father and how he was asked to play his role. It wasn't the fact that he was unbearably cruel and stupid to his children, as that's how he was supposed to be. The film's creators just asked him to play it a bit over the top, and all credibility was lost due to that imept and amateurish decision. I didn't mind the fact there was no soundtrack. They probably would have chosen horrendous music anyway. The little music there was okay but not exactly fitting. It wasn't too distracting though. But for me, that idiot father ruined an otherwise good movie. The ending was particularly inane, with old territory being visited. His nauseating attitude had reached rovolting proportions. It didn't exactly make much sense, either. And then, after a whole movie of forming a strong and believable character in the daughter, she abandons the whole thing and becomes a blubbering fool. Extremely disappointing. Daddy this and Daddy that. She never called him Daddy once during the film, and shows him affection that he didn't deserve. Absurd to the extreme. A complete waste of time due to the ending and the father. But we get a good glimpse of her chest at the end so there's that at least.