Love & Savagery (2009) User Reviews

A slightly problematic but believable forbidden love romance

[Samiam3 · 7/10 · 25 March 2010]

The formula is nothing especially new, in fact it's about four hundred years old. Starting with Romeo and Juliet, forbidden love stories, have since been among the most favoured types. Love and Savegery is no masterpiece, but it's more realistic than melodramatic, and very down to Earth.

Michael is a geologist from Newfoundland who hops across the pond to study rocks in Ireland, starting with the cliffs outside a small Christian fishing town. He meets Cathleen, young and pretty, but on her way to nunnery. As she starts to win Michael's heart, the town gets increasingly uncomfortable with his presence, but the young man refuses to abandon his feelings.

The film from start to finnish looks and feels natural. My one problem with the film comes somewhere between the beginning of the third act, and the last two scenes. The story drags a bit too long with the initial romantic conflict being presented again and again in each scene. It pushes a little hard. Good thing the film ends the way it did, otherwise it would have been a cheesy romance. I also like the way the film closes with the same shot it begins with, it is only at moments like that do you realize how far you've gone through a story, which isn't even that long in running length. So all in all, Love and Savegery is a romance worth seeing.

A rare gem from a Canada/Ireland co-production: easily overlooked!

[feodoric · 8/10 · 12 December 2013]

I caught this by sheer curiosity on Netflix. One of these purely intuitive, instinctive selections that turn out to be pretty rewarding in the end... I was much intrigued by the capsule on Netflix which went by something like "while doing field work near a small port on the Ireland coast, a young geologist from Newfoundland becomes enamored of a serene, innocent local girl who has a strong personal relation with God". I'm paraphrasing here but that was basically the only introductory note. I found it rather exotic and enough out of the beaten path to capture my insatiable curiosity.

And God did I have a good idea today! Because compared to the truckloads of manure that are shipped from the big studios every year, this was so extraordinarily refreshing and so powerful despite its modest means. It's the best demonstration that one does need only truth and truthfulness to make a film interesting, provided that you come up with an original setup. Sometimes, hundreds of millions are spent with good purpose and a mega-production may live up to its promises and need the investment made simply because of the cost required to make unique and perfectly credible illusions. The best example is 2001: A Space Odyssey, which remains to this day my number 1 movie of all times. But next to a 2001, films such as "Love and Savagery", with a ridiculously low budget, no-name yet excellent actors, and intrinsically gorgeous scenery manage to grasp a viewer's attention and imagination and leave a durable impression on him/her.

I will not unveil anything of the story except the premises: Michael, a young Newfoundlander gets acquainted with Cathleen - played by Sarah Greene, a young Irish actress and a name to remember- a pretty girl working in a pub and who plans to enter the local convent and become a nun. Michael learns about her career plans almost right from the beginning, and the film describes the evolution of his ardent, devoted courtship in an environment increasingly hostile to him for several reasons. And I'll stop here. The rest is for everyone to discover for oneself.

Let's say that this is about the mystery of Love when boy meets girl and an earthquake follows in both individuals. I'm using the capital "L" not because God is at the center of the intrigue, but simply to indicate that the movie is about the universal value of the word, i.e. physical love (the sexual aspect of love) as well as love as the cement that transcends all differences and that can overcome all hardships and abolish all wars, the love of serious hippies.... Hence my use of Love. The movie is about that Love as lived by two individuals who have to cope with its far-reaching implications.

My review would be incomplete if I forgot to give a special mention about the splendid role of Cathleen. Sarah Greene's expression and acting perspires the sort of purity, of virginal candor that would be expected from her vocation, and yet, she also shows great strength, the same solidity that we see in the intriguing, unique limestone formations studied by Michael around her small Irish hometown. I am looking forward to see more of her. She is absolutely mesmerizing as an actress, and she has both true external and internal beauty by standards of her own. She has a gorgeous face that does not fit with the usual Hollywoodian or Cannesian canons, but is more comparable to these actresses who look serious while taking your breath away, e.g. Lisa McAllister, Susie Parker, etc. Entirely believable in her role in Love & Savagery, and the film works largely because of this. A key element to why this is a pure gem.

A magnificent pearl from the rugged coastlines of Newfoundland and Ireland, and how Love will bridge the wide ocean that separates these two regions. Do yourself a big favor today and watch this film.

A lovely, touching love story. But ...

[deschreiber · 7/10 · 27 January 2021]

I agree with all the positive reviews here about this film and especially enjoyed the beautiful Sara Greene. Who wouldn't fall in love with that shining face? But surely only a Catholic could enjoy the ending. To deliberately give up the riches of a lifetime of love, children, grandchildren, all of that, to become a nun, to a non-Catholic this has to seem nothing less than perverse and horribly sad. I hated the ending and was looking forward to the opposite, even if, as someone here has said, it might be a little cheesy. For Catholics only.

A breath of fresh sea air.

[FilmSocietyMtl · 9/10 · 27 November 2009]

I just caught this film at a local AMC theatre and was happy to be treated to a crisp 35mm print instead of a substandard digital projection. And a richly textured work of this sort definitely deserves the genuine celluloid treatment. The breathtaking photography of an Irish seaside town was matched only by the excellent sound design. The imagery was as intimately rich as director John N. Smith's Oscar-nominated short of the early 80's FIRST WINTER.

The entire cast was pretty solid but the lead Irish beauty played by Sarah Greene simply stole the show. (Let's hope to see more of her in the future!)The camera just adored her from every angle. Stunning.

Yes, it does take a little while to get into the story and absorb the setting, but once the romantic narrative takes hold, it ultimately touches the viewer deep down. The metaphorical use of raging seas along the shoreline makes for effective punctuation throughout the quietly stormy relationship between the two leads. Nice music score too.

The only weak spots for me related to hair and wardrobe that occasionally made it difficult to believe we were in 1969 but I'm sure that was mostly due to the production's budgetary limits. A minor detail in the end.

Overall, this is a sincerely touching and beautiful film made for any viewer looking for a breath of fresh sea air in a world shrouded in cultural smog blowing in from Hollywood. Catch this gem!

A realistic romantic drama with a poignant bittersweet after taste

[caiged · 9 August 2011]

The location and the performances of the lead characters are the main driving forces of this movie and offers a more refreshing and realistic approach to love and the choices that people have to make.

This is not your average Hollywood romcom. There is no com and the rom is much more serious. The heroine isn't a debonair twenty something self assured world conquering go getter. Here she's a naive young nun to be who's led a somewhat sheltered life in an Irish village off the coastline and she faces turmoil when a stranger from Newfoundland enters her life and turns it upside down.

I really liked the rustic village setting off the coastline with the close minded and close knit community. Even the gloomy weather and the dark clouds reflects the mood of our couple. The stormy weather mirrors the turmoil that Michael and Cathleen are feeling under their skin, and also the animosity of the locals towards their friendship and seemingly budding romance.

Sarah Green as Cathleen is wonderful- she does an excellent job of portraying a naive unassuming girl who's caught in two minds when Michael shows an increasing interest in her. She finds herself at junction with two paths, both of which have grave consequences, no matter what her choice. She was a natural and made the movie as much as it made her. Allan Hawco was good as well, though I found his character to be a bit too one dimensional and too bull headed, and too selfish. He'd be the kind of guy who do whatever he wanted as long it felt right and natural to him and wouldn't care for anyone's opinion or feelings. I felt that Michael does go too far in his quest to have Cathleen that after a while I didn't really feel like rooting for him.

Overall, I like the movie, and it's pacing. It's slow so you really have to sit still and concentrate. The ending is as it should be and nothing more, not like the billion endings that Return of the King (of Lord of the Rings infamy) had.

If you want a realistic love story without any melodrama this is for you. Everyone else can go watch Pretty Woman or Notting Hill and go "aaahh" at the end and feel good about themselves.

Star crossed lovers romance with an Irish & Canadian setting

[juneebuggy · 5/10 · 15 January 2015]

I liked this quite a bit. I will admit though that I initially only turned it on because I saw Allan Hawco's name attached. Jokes on me too because sadly he sports a bad 70's haircut and is beat up throughout most of the movie. This was also obviously made before he decided to hit the gym for all those shirtless scenes he finds himself in, in 'Republic Of Doyle'. Still I ended up getting quite involved with this bittersweet love story and really enjoyed the small Irish village setting and all of its colourful characters. Beautiful scenery throughout too.

This takes place in 1969 and (Hawco) is Michael, a student of poetry and geology from Newfoundland who travels to Ireland to explore unusual mineral formations. While staying at a small inn he meets Kathleen (Sarah Greene), a beautiful young woman who works at a neighborhood pub, he is immediately drawn to her and scandal erupts, with the villagers all going a bit nuts at the thought of the pair entering into a romance as Kathleen is destined to join the convent as per her mothers dying wish.

Yes this is a love story and it keeps you hanging too, not until the last minute do we know if Michael and Kathleen will get their happily-ever-after... 03.13

Very compelling with great acting.

[Maureenkent15 · 10/10 · 14 November 2009]

I thought the movie was excellent. It was much better than I expected. It started a little slow but picked up quickly and kept my interest all throughout. The acting by both main characters was superb. The acting was mild and emotional and yet very intense. The accent of the main characters was very real. The outdoor scenery was extraordinary. The title "Love and Savagery" depicted well my expectations of the movie. I can certainly highly recommend the movie to all even if one does not have an Irish background. It was so nice to see a normal relaxing entertaining movie for a change. I recently saw two other movies since last week -- while one was good the other was terrible but neither of them could match the quality of the story line or acting of this movie. Both main characters made the movie seem very realistic. They were just both so natural.