This movie has some idyllic scenes of seaside and countryside, overflowing with transcendent joy and unspeakable happiness. Scenes of love and romance are very heartwarming. And scenes of grave hardships, death, accusation, and brutality, are very depressing. But the combination of the two together gives this film a special magical contrast of emotion and circumstance seldom seen in most cinema. Main character Emily Kennedy — poor, young, dependent, and vulnerable — yet stunningly beautiful and naive — suffers loss and betrayal. Yet she retains her integrity, her inner beauty, and her faith in human-kind to an admirable degree. By the end of the third and final 45 minute segment, she is able to accept a marriage proposal from an honest, sincere, and loving benefactor, despite his burden of a horrendous past.
This is no ordinary movie, but moves from dramatic highs and lows, joys and sorrows, hardships and luxuries, peaks and valleys, that are mind-bending enough to make any ordinary young lady lose hope. But not dear Emily. The movie is punctuated with lovely melodies of Irish whistle preludes and postludes. There are moments of intensely romantic surprise, with charming instances of reverie and dreaming. I loved each of the 3 episodes, each one quite different. The 3 male lead characters are very vivid, very different. The female lead role of Emily Kennedy is played gorgeously by lovely and remarkable actress, Gillian Kearney. The romantic and dramatic acting is beautifully well done by each actor throughout. Of all films based on the writings of Catherine Cookson, this film is my top-ranked all-time favorite.
