August (1996 film)

August is a 1996 British drama film directed by and starring Anthony Hopkins as Ieuan (IPA:j/əɨ/a/n) Davies, and featuring Rhys Ifans in a small role in one of his earliest films, as Griffiths. It is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's 1899 play Uncle Vanya, with the character Ieuan Davies taking over the title role.

August
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAnthony Hopkins
Produced byJune Wyndham-Davies
Pippa Cross
Screenplay byJulian Mitchell
Based onUncle Vanya
by Anton Chekhov
Starring
Music byAnthony Hopkins
George Fenton
(conductor)
CinematographyRobin Vidgeon
Edited byEdward Mansell
Production
company
Majestic Films International
Newcomm
Granada Film Productions
Distributed by
Release date
  • February 16, 1996 (1996-02-16) (Norway)
  • April 19, 1996 (1996-04-19) (United States)
  • April 24, 1996 (1996-04-24) (USA Film Festival)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish

The film was Hopkins's first feature film with a full cast (he had previously directed the one-man-performance of Dylan Thomas: Return Journey in 1990). It would be over a decade before his next directorial effort, Slipstream in 2007, which he also wrote and for which he also composed the score.

Cast

Adaptation and issues

The film adapts Uncle Vanya to a turn-of-the-century Welsh setting, emphasizing the hardships of Welsh industrial life in the slate quarries and Welsh-English turmoil as an English professor upsets normal Welsh life when he arrives at the Welsh estate which acts as his vacation home (at one point Ieuan states that he feels that he has been cheated by the Prof. Blathwaite, just as "the English have always cheated the Welsh").

Language

It is primarily in English, with a few lines in Welsh here or there - such as diolch yn fawr iawn ("thank you very much"), cariad (a term of endearment, meaning "love"), and iechyd da ("cheers").

See also


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