It’s the summer of 1920. World War I has ended, and the world is tired. Especially Tom Birkin (Colin Firth). He was in the shit during the war, fighting in the British army. His war wounds are deep, but unseen: a broken-up marriage and a crippling stutter.

 But that shouldn’t bother him much where he’s going. An art restorer by trade, he’s been tasked with uncovering and revitalizing a hidden mural in a church in Oxgodby, a small town nestled in the Yorkshire countryside. This means at least a month out in the country, bunking in the church’s belltower and keeping to himself. Years of deprivation have trained him to be content with very little, and the promised solitude will be a welcome relief from a soldier’s close quarters.

Colin Firth as Tom Birkin

But Birkin can’t shake the nightmares. Every night it’s the same: back in the trenches, an inch from death. His colleague of sorts, a fellow named Moon (Kenneth Branagh), stationed outside in a tent on the church’s open grounds, is suffering from the same trouble. For his part, Moon is tasked with the excavation of a mis-buried ancestor of some sort related to the church’s biggest patron. Birkin is shy and awkward around his outwardly cheerful cohort—until he hears Moon screaming at night inside his tent, and knows he knows.

Kenneth Branagh plays Birkin’s cheerful counterpart Moon

If this sounds like a melancholy setup for a supposedly light film titled A Month in the Country (1987), so be it. If anything, the somber and terse atmosphere that Birkin brings with him from London to Oxgodby is contagious; this makes his gradual transformation all the more nuanced and rewarding.

Director Pat O’Connor and screenwriter Simon Gray are faithful to J. L. Carr’s slim novel of the same name. By following Birkin’s gradual adjustments to his surroundings we see just how on edge and locked-up his war years have left him. Conversely, when Birkin awakes from his first good night’s sleep in the belltower and throws open the shutters to drink in the fresh brightness, it’s as thrilling as if he won the lottery. We can hear the sunshine as well as see it: its breezes and butterflies, its chirps and silences. We feel the warmth of the sun on Birkin’s face when he dozes off in the church’s cemetery after lunch.

Birkin begins his work methodically and skillfully, with a deep reverence for the unknown painter whose work he’s uncovering. Visits from curious townsfolk, which could turn maudlin or cutesy in the hands of others, are left as author Carr intended them: sweet and sincere and nothing more. An admiration Birkin develops for Mrs. Keach (Natasha Richardson), the rector’s wife, remains just that. By sacrificing a surefire passionate-romance subplot in favor of something more ephemeral and realistic, O’Connor gains our trust and pulls us a little further into the easy pace of Oxgodby.

Left: Natasha Richardson as Mrs. Keach; Right: The mural comes into view

This is a film where nothing much happens to a handful of characters who need just that: Peace. Rest. Quiet. While some films burrow into our hearts by transforming the way we see the world, others do so by clearing the path and restoring our vision to the way it once was. By September 1920, Birkin has completed his work and gathered enough strength to carry on with his life; hopefully, after watching A Month in the Country, we’ll be able to do the same.

A Month in the Country is free to watch online via Tubi, Vudu, IMDb TV, and the Roku Channel. It is available for rent without ads from YouTubeTV and AppleTV.