The Railway Station Man (1992) Poster

(1992)

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5/10
Viewed in 2024 on BBC 4, drew us in.
colinrens14 March 2024
So this film came on just at the perfect time, for me and my wife to watch it, this is vary rare that we would watch a film during the week, but maybe a good omen?

The scenery is obviously stunning, giving a beautiful, yet stark setting for the characters to develop and the story to unfold.

I liked the minimal themes, there was no clutter that needed removing.

Acting was great - pace was fine, but for me, so much time was (rightly) spent watching the relationships developing, that the ending was rushed. It deserved more than that. Plus a character deliberately disturbs the couple at the end, when they knew not to... so it doesn't really make sense. It's as if the director thought, you know what let's just do this and we can all go home...

Shame, as not really seen anything like this before... loved the tucked in denim shirts though... very 90s...
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5/10
The Railway Station Man
Prismark1014 March 2024
The movie reunited Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, twenty years after Don't Look Now.

Christie plays widow Helen Cuffe, who moved to a remote part of Ireland after the death of her husband. He was wrongly shot by terrorists.

Now some years later, Helen still lives alone with her son Jack who is now skirting with IRA activities. She spends her time painting, reflecting on her passionless marriage with her murdered husband.

Into her life comes Roger Hawthorne (Donald Sutherland.) An American loner, with a deformed hand who is restoring a small railway station.

After a gruff start, both find solace in each other. Until her son returns with a terrorist ringleader.

Unlike Don't Look Now, there is very little spark between the characters and even the screenplay. Although it has an explosive ending.

You sense this will be a bleak, sparse movie. It is also badly edited. The abrupt shift when the two main characters dance to a rock n roll song to the next scene seemed all wrong to me.

This was a BBC Film and when it was shown on its Screen Two strand. It received the lowest audience for a Screen Two film. Rather surprising given the stars involved.
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Poignant, well-acted tale of love and political intrigue
cmf126118 April 2003
I rented this film because I wanted to see Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland act in tandem once more, almost two decades after their bravura performances in "Don't Look Now" They did not disappoint the second time around. The acting was superb, which is to be expected, but the story is also well-developed and especially in this post 9/11 climate,timely. Films such as this, which can deal with the larger themes of terrorism and political unrest while still being able to fully develop the more personal themes of love, loss and redemption among middle-aged lovers are rare; films that can do this well are rarer still. I highly recommend "The Railway Station Man." If only Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie were paired more often.......

Christine
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8/10
Beautiful film, but...
alangalpert3 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
"The Railway Station Man" is beautiful in many ways. The locations in Ireland are beautiful; Julie Christie is beautiful; and the acting is beautiful. But because of the ending, it is one of the most depressing films I have ever seen.

Helen Cuffe (Julie Christie) is a widow living alone in a quiet seaside village. She paints as a hobby, and is visited occasionally by her son, who is attending college in Dublin. Roger Hawthorne (Donald Sutherland) is a newcomer to the village. An injured war veteran, he dreams of restoring the defunct railway station, using money he inherited from his mother. Mrs. Cuffe and Mr. Hawthorne have both settled into lives of "quiet desperation" (as Thoreau put it), and are resigned to live them out alone. He is wary of her at first, but after a few false starts, they become lovers. Being in love awakens her creativity and his enthusiasm for life.

Unfortunately, this is Ireland and Mrs. Cuffe's son is involved with a terrorist group. He is only a messenger, but she worries greatly about his safety - with good reason, as it turns out. I won't go into detail about the ending, except to say that the happiness that seems imminent for Mrs. Cuffe and Mr. Hawthorne is suddenly and cruelly denied them. Realistic, perhaps, but undeniably tragic.
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