''The Railway Station Man'' is a 1992 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Michael Whyte, and starring

Julie Christie Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. Christie's accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has appeared in six films ranked in the British Film Institu ...

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...

and John Lynch. It was based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Irish writer Jennifer Johnston."Fantastic Fiction: 'The Railway Station Man'", by Jennifer Johnston
fantasticfiction.co.uk; accessed 10 June 2014. It was filmed on location in

Glencolmcille Glencolmcille or Glencolumbkille () is a small district on the Atlantic coast of southwest County Donegal in Ireland. Named after Saint Colm Cille (Columba), it is also a civil parish in the historic barony of Banagh. Glencolmcille is in the ...

County Donegal, Ireland County Donegal ( ; ) is a county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small border with the rest of the Republic. It is ...

Plot

Northern Irishwoman Helen Cuffe (Julie Christie) has her life upturned when her husband is mistakenly killed by the Irish Republican Army. Ten years later, it is shown that she and her young son, Jack (Frank MacCusker), moved to a small town in Donegal to start life anew. Jack resented his mother's lack of love for his father and the pair became alienated as he moved to university in Dublin. Helen is now an amateur painter. Helen meets a mysterious American named Roger Hawthorne (Donald Sutherland), who is in the area to refurbish an old railway station. He has a false arm from a shrapnel injury and he gradually explains a difficult family relationship behind his frequent relocations. Helen also meets Damian Sweeney (John Lynch), a young man helping Roger with the building work. Seeing Damian enjoying a naked swim inspires Helen’s painting to a new level. A romance slowly blossoms between Roger and Helen, and both find love and passion unexpectedly. However, Jack has become involved with Manus Dempsey (Mark Tandy), organiser of a violent political group, who sees an opportunity to use the old engine shed at the disused station to store explosives. In the climax, lives are lost. Helen is left alone, to paint.

Cast

- Helen Cuffe *

- Roger Hawthorne * John Lynch - Damian Sweeney * Mark Tandy - Manus Dempsey * Frank McCusker - Jack Cuffe * Ingrid Craigie - Mary Heron * Johnny O'Doherty Craig - Young Jack Cuffe

Production

It was filmed on location in Glencolumbkille,

. The house was the former Cashelnagore railway station, the line closed in 1947.

and

previously worked together on ''

Don't Look Now ''Don't Look Now'' () is a 1973 English-language thriller film directed by Nicolas Roeg, adapted from the 1971 short story by Daphne du Maurier. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland portray Laura and John Baxter, a married couple who trav ...

'' and there had been various attempts to get them together on a project again but their schedules did not line up. Sutherland was critical of

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

for one of the love scenes from the film being cut, in contrast to violence shown on television.

Reception

Ray Loynd of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' praised the "depiction of the beautiful, foggy, damp Irish west coast" but was otherwise critical of the film. The film has a score of 6.1 out of 10 on IMDb

References

External links

*
''The Railway Station Man''
irishfilm.net; accessed 10 June 2014. 1992 films 1992 drama films British drama films Films based on Irish novels Films about The Troubles (Northern Ireland) 1990s English-language films 1990s British films Films scored by Richard Hartley (composer) {{1990s-UK-film-stub