Detailed Plot (Minor Spoilers)
1911, Whales.
Solomon (Ioan Gruffudd) is a young Jewish man living with his family, working as a packman for his father’s cotton shop and getting a bit fed up with the strict rules of the religion and attitudes of his family.
It’s an era where most people are not doing well. Welsh men work the mines and the Welsh and Jews just tolerate each other. Not that they are a fan of The English, either.
So when Solomon runs into a lovely Welsh girl named Gaenor (Nia Roberts) during one of his door-to-door runs, he introduces himself as Sam Livingston, an English packman. She is soon lured by his gentle manners and attention, and they start seeing each other.
While her brother isn’t thrilled, Gaenor is certain that Solomon is serious so Gaenor sleeps with him. She wants to meet his family, but he keeps making excuses- knowing his family would never accept a non-Jew.
It all goes well until she becomes pregnant. Solomon doesn’t know, and he hasn’t asked her to get married or meet his parents. So she leaves him. She also has to bear the reaction of her church and his father insists she married the guy. She’ rather give the baby away then be with a guy who doesn’t seem to love her properly.
Solomon does his best to see her, despite the violent reactions of his brothers. Upon his insistence, she searches for his secret and finally confronts him.
He is afraid to lose his family, but also doesn’t want to lose Gaenor.
Running away seems to be only option, but friends and family provide obstacles that will bear tragic results…
Love vs. Prejudice, Society, Family & Religion
Solomon and Gaenor is a strange love story. I say strange because like its characters, it comes and goes between daring and shy, subtle and obvious, conventional and understanding (though Solomon’s family is strictly set on the prejudiced mode).
Solomon’s lying about his name and backgrounds is a form of rebelling to the mutual prejudice in the town as well his parents’ unflexible lifestyle. While it isn’t nice to lie to Gaenor, I can sympathize with why he did in the beginning. She probably wouldn’t have been that open to dating a Jew, and even if she was open-minded enough, her parents wouldn’t let probably let her. And she’d be more inclined to listen.
But of course it isn’t fair for Gaenor, who has a mind of her own despite the traditions and conventions of the era and religion she belongs to. It was her choice to sleep with Solomon before they were engaged or something, but then again she didn’t have any reason to believe she wouldn’t be.
Solomon should have at least explained her the situation before they got intimately involved, but hey there is only so much maturity in him before his infatuation and hormones get in the way.
That’s the problem with semi-conformity. If he had the nerve to tell her the truth, stand up to his parents (and face the consequences of rejection), the story would have had a different kind of ending.
And while it is not easy losing your family, you should remember Solomon was never that happy with them, didn’t quite belong. It was heart-breaking when his father wouldn’t even include him in a prayer – because hey, he is an adult.
And remember, in the end he was sort of excluded anyway, and he did choose to risk whatever is left of their support, as well his life, to be with her at the end.
I was surprised by, and towards the end respected, Gaenor’s father. Considering his reaction to the red dress, I semi-expected him to shun her and throw her to the street after she got pregnant. But he encouraged marriage to the father, if she wanted to keep the baby. Considering the era, he was pretty damn cool about it in the long run. So was her mom, supporting her decision if she didn’t want the guy.
Her brother was a bit of a jerk, but Solomon did deserve some of it. 1911 or 2013 – I can’t imagine too many brothers reacting differently regardless of personality or education. Here’s a dude who lied to and impregnated her sister and wasn’t begging for marriage (as far as he knew)…
*
Weird as it might be when it comes to some of the character reactions, it is for the most part a decent and lovely story about following your heart and being your own person despite the society’s and family’s dictation and having to suffer through the consequences – as well as the consequences of bad timing and bad luck.
It’s well worth a watch if you love tragic love stories that has some believable obstacles and good actors. And yes, I’ll go the shallow route here and admit I don’t exactly blame Gaenor for not controlling herself. Ioan Gruffudd is his usual gorgeous self in the movie, and his character (especially before we saw his timid, conflicted side) was quite lovely.
Made in 1999, written and directed by Paul Morrison. Was nominated for Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film – though the majority of the film is in English, realistically there’s also Yiddish and Welsh.
