The Levelling

Suicide? No, his son’s death was just an accident. This is what rugged farmer Aubrey maintains to his daughter, Clover, who has returned to her parents’ farm for the funeral. She is having none of it (“You don’t stick the barrel of a gun in your mouth by accident”) – but neither can she comprehend what made her brother so unhappy.
A decaying farm somewhere in the grey English countryside: in Hope Dickson Leach’s hands, a desolate place where there is always a bottle of whisky in the cupboard and talking is a dirty word. A good backdrop to the psychological warfare carried on by father and daughter, without a lot of dialogue. Every nervous shiver in Ellie Kendrick (Game of Thrones), the harsh set of David Troughton’s mouth – Leach records it all, faultlessly. Each scene brings us closer to both parties, and to understanding the suicide. In the meantime, the milking carries on.

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