THE FLAXFIELD

Based on a Flemish classic, THE FLAXFIELD is a multi-prize-winning film set in the turn of the century. Its central focus is on the father/son conflict within a Belgian farm community. The taciturn, domineering father is as unbending as his ever-present, massive walking stick. Unwilling to yield any authority to his only son, the aging farmer resents the young man's sensual affair with a pretty milkmaid and his joy of life. The pacifying mother cannot avert the tragic results in an explosion of pent-up rage. Told in contemplative simplicity, THE FLAXFIELD alternates glowing scenes of peasant life and changing seasons with scrutinizing, Dreyer-like closeups ranging from small creatues of the soil to a human trickle of sweat or a throbbing pulsebeat.