# Solomon and Gaenor (1999)

### reviewed by
John Popick

    PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com
    "We Put the SIN in Cinema"

If you're familiar with the name Shakespeare, the premise of Solomon and Gaenor shouldn't come as much of a surprise. It's got the whole doomed romance equation (young man + young woman x secret love = tragedy), but Gaenor is much more than a Romeo and Juliet rip-off. It was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar earlier this year, and it's probably the first picture to have dialogue in Yiddish, Celtic and English.

Abandoning Verona for 1911 Wales, Gaenor begins by introducing each of the victims in the forthcoming romance. Solomon (Ioan Gruffudd, from the upcoming 102 Dalmatians) is an Orthodox Jew whose family hails from Russia. They run a successful pawnshop, where Solomon keeps the books and hits the town's streets with a pack full of fabric samples to woo potential customers to the family store.

Along with her mom, Gaenor (Nia Roberts, in her acting debut) is essentially a servant to her hard-working father and brother. Both burly men work at the coal mine, where Gaenor lost her boyfriend in an explosion. Like most of the inhabitants of this impoverished town, her Gentile family spends most of their time either at church or thinking about the next time they'll get to go to church.

When Gaenor opens the door to Solomon and his fabric, you can practically see the sparks fly. Utterly smitten, Solomon makes her a lovely dress out of one particular material that Gaenor admired during their first meeting. When he goes back to present her with the dress, the film almost captures an audible swoon coming from Gaenor, who finally succumbs to her secret attraction to Solomon.

The kicker is that Solomon never lets on that he's a Jew. In fact, he covers it up, pretending to be an Englishman named Sam Livingstone in order to pry Gaenor away from her overprotective family. Gaenor's parents seem pretty happy with `Sam,' but her big brother becomes suspicious when he notices that Solomon's hands aren't covered in calluses

The star-crossed lovers literally roll around in the hay but, like any guy who's just gotten some, Solomon turns into a jealous, post-coital jerk. Gaenor expects him to marry her, but he knows matrimony would be impossible if she learned the truth about his religion. And before you know it, Gaenor is blowing chunks during the morning chores.

If you have the slightest familiarity with storytelling, you know Gaenor is headed somewhere dark and tragic. First-time writer/director Paul Morrisson keeps things even gloomier by setting the film in rainy, overcast weather. There's also a devastating scene where the pregnant Gaenor is booted out of church after she's accused of having pre-marital sex. It was almost enough to make me want to start going to church again.

1:39 – R for nudity, strong sexual content, violence, and a pig slaughter

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