Birkin tells his story as he recalls these memories sixty years later. That month in Oxgodby with its kind people, warm summer days and nights, new friendships, infatuation with the vicar's wife, and a yet unknown masterpiece he is restoring, all contribute to the healing of his psyche. Unlike the people being uncovered in the mural of the apocalypse, sinners falling into hell, Tom is distancing himself from the hell of war.

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During his stay in the village, Birkin develops an unspoken love for the vicar’s wife, Alice (Natasha Richardson) and forms a close friendship with archaeologist James Moon (Kenneth Branagh), who is also emotionally scarred by the conflict. As both men set about excavating the past, they also begin to reclaim themselves from the horrors of war.

Closed Captions

Following its cinema release, the film was transferred to VHS in 1991 in a pan and scan edition. When Glyn Watkins, a poet who had been encouraged by J.L. Carr early in his career, wanted to screen the film at the launch of a poetry book in 2003 at the National Media Museum in Bradford, the museum found that all original 35mm film prints had disappeared.

Penelope Fitzgerald on A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr Penelope Fitzgerald on A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

Birkin, a Londoner, discovers a visceral empathy with and appreciation of nature and the countryside from his very first morning.

A Month in the Country sounded pretty romantic and attractive because of its name, frankly. I have always wanted to live in a rural place for as long as I can remember, and that’s why I can say that I automatically love any book set in a rural location. A Month in the Country also became one of my favourite books and once again showed me how the countryside slowly gets under people’s skin. In memory, it stays as I left it, a sealed room furnished by the past, airless, still, ink long dry on a put-down pen.” It transpires that an archaeologist, Moon, has also been commissioned by the same bequest to find the grave of an excommunicated ancestor who was said to be buried outside the church yard, and their discoveries eventually converge in a surprising way. Another subplot involves Birkin's mostly suppressed feelings for the vicar's wife. A calendar of memory can be read like a book. Nature in its periodic seasons reanimates the life in us, the past and future life. The dead leaves or loves sediment and new feelings sprout and grow and a new impulse continues.

A literary holiday – JL Carr’s A Month in the Country A literary holiday – JL Carr’s A Month in the Country

Tom has just returned to England after a horrific experience as a soldier in WWI. He is a broken man; a man with a facial tic caused by the trauma of war. He is returning from hell, probably suffering from what now would be called PTSD. Perhaps a commission to restore a medieval mural in a country church will help him return to civilian life and give him direction.In particular, he forms a close friendship with archaeologist James Moon, another war veteran, who like Birkin has been emotionally scarred. Moon is employed in the village under the same bequest, working to uncover a mysterious lost grave, but is more interested in discovering the remains of an earlier Saxon church building in the field next to the churchyard.