''The Long Day Closes'' is a 1992 British film written and directed by

Terence Davies Terence Davies (born 10 November 1945) is an English screenwriter, film director, and novelist, seen by many critics as one of the greatest British filmmakers of his times. He is best known as the writer and director of autobiographical films ...

. It stars

Marjorie Yates Marjorie Yates (born 13 April 1941) is a British actress best known for her role as Carol Fisher in the Channel 4 drama '' Shameless''. Yates was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, and studied at the Bournville College of Art. An early TV ...

, Leigh McCormack and Anthony Watson. It was entered into the

1992 Cannes Film Festival The 45th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1992. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Den goda viljan'' by Bille August. The festival opened with ''Basic Instinct'', directed by Paul Verhoeven and closed with ''Far and Away'', directed by R ...

Plot

The film is set in Liverpool in the mid-1950s. The story concerns a shy twelve-year-old boy, Bud, and his loving mother and siblings. He lives a life rich in imagination, centred on family relationships, church, and his struggles at school. Music and snatches of movie dialogue allow him to enrich his narrow physical environment. "Together these fragments", wrote Stephen Holden in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', "evoke a postwar England starved for beauty, fantasy and a place to escape."

Cast

as Mother * Leigh McCormack as Bud * Anthony Watson as Kevin * Nicholas Lamont as John * Ayse Owens as Helen * Tina Malone as Edna * Jimmy Wilde as Curly * Robin Polley as Mr. Nicholls * Pete Ivatts as Mr. Bushell * Joy Blakeman as Frances * Denise Thomas as Jean * Patricia Morrison as Amy * Gavin Mawdslay as Billy * Kirk McLaughlin as Labourer / Christ * Mark Heath as Black Man

Music

The film uses 35 pieces of music, including renditions of songs by

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

. Critic David Thomson in his April 2007 review of the film in the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

's ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

'' magazine draws attention to the music that was used in the film, in particular "at the end of the film ... that mackerel sky and Sir Arthur Sullivan's ' The Long Day Closes' itself" sung by Pro Cantione Antiqua.

Production

The film was filmed in sets built in

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of D ...

London at Sands Films Studio under the meticulous instructions of the director.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 81% approval rating based on reviews from 21 critics, with an average rating of 7.60 out of 10. On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 85/100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". A 2009 appreciation by Dennis Lim said: "Together these fragments", wrote Stephen Holden in ''

'', "evoke a postwar England starved for beauty, fantasy and a place to escape...''The Long Day Closes'' is filled with surreal, expressionistic touches that lend it the aura of a phantasmagoric cinematic poem." On

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

's 2022 'The 100 Best Movies of the 90s' list, the film was crowned the ninth best film of its decade. Critic David Ehrlich writes "Davies’ fading slipstream of a film drifts through the rain and rubble of postwar England with the meticulousness of a Wes Anderson movie, eventually freezing over into a delicate snow-globe that swirls the pain of repression into the pleasure of self-discovery."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
''The Long Day Closes: In His Own Good Time''
an essay by Michael Koresky at the Criterion Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Long Day Closes, The 1992 films 1992 drama films Films set in Liverpool LGBT culture in Liverpool Films directed by Terence Davies British drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films