Documentary filmmaker Paul Morrison makes his fiction writing-directing debut with SOLOMON & GAENOR, the heartbreaking tale of two star-crossed lovers from vastly different worlds. With a script that uses Yiddish, Welsh, and English, the film features affecting performances by the talented young leads. In a bleak Welsh coal-mining town in 1911, life is joyless and laborious for young Gaenor (Nia Roberts) until a handsome packman comes selling cotton door-to-door. Solomon (Ioan Gruffudd) is immediately smitten with pretty Gaenor but, fearing prejudice from her chapel-going miner family, does not reveal his true identity. Calling himself Sam Livingstone, Solomon hides that his parents are devout Orthodox Jews who own a pawnshop in a nearby village. The young couple cannot deny their passion for each other and become lovers. Gaenor introduces Sam to her family but is confused and hurt when he does not reciprocate. Meanwhile, tensions mount in the town as the miners threaten to strike, led by Gaenor's father, Idris (William Thomas), and her cruel, hard-drinking brother, Crad (Mark Lewis Jones). Separated by a chasm of religion, family, and language, Solomon and Gaenor must fight to protect their love in a harshly disapproving world, with potentially dangerous consequences.
Set in 1911 Wales, SOLOMON & GAENOR is a love story about a Jewish man, Solomon (Ioan Gruffudd), who leaves his mining job and becomes a door-to-door salesman, falling in love with a Christian client's daughter, Gaenor (Nia Roberts). Between industrial instability and racial intolerance, combined with the dissapproving local Welsh community, Solomon and Gaenor's love is faced with tough luck. Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, this film will transport audiences to back in history to a completely different place and time.
Theatrical Release: AUGUST 25, 2000
SOLOMON & GAENOR was nominated for a 1999 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Morrison was inspired to write the screenplay after learning about a Jewish community in South Wales while doing research for British Channel Four's documentary series "A Sense of Belonging."
In addition to his career as a filmmaker, Morrison is also a practicing psychotherapist.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Single Side - Dual Layer
Letterbox - 1.85
Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0
Additional Release Material:
Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
Audio Commentary: Paul Morrison - Director
Text/Photo Galleries:
Talent Files
Director of Photography
Nina Kellgren: SOLOMON & GAENOR
Costume Designer
Maxine Brown: SOLOMON & GAENOR
Review 1:
"...[Ms. Roberts gives an] understated, beautifully layered performance..."
Source: New York Times
p.E10 08/25/2000
Review 2:
"...Vividly re-creates a vanished time and place....[Gruffudd and Roberts] aptly convey the intensity of their characters' longing..."
Source: Movieline's Hollywood Life
p.36 09/01/2000
Review 3:
"...A Romeo and Juliet tragedy of surprising power....A moment of cross-culturalism to savor..." -- Rating: B+
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.57 09/01/2000
Review 4:
"...The technical credits are superb....Gruffudd and Roberts are convincing in the their roles..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.43 10/27/2000
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