Cold Comfort Farm

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Cold Comfort Farm

TV-PG,

1996,

1h 44m,

Comedy

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82%

39 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

82%

Tomatometer

39 Reviews

81%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

In this adaptation of the satirical British novel, Flora Poste, a plucky London society girl orphaned at age 19, finds a new home with some rough relatives, the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm. With a take-charge attitude and some encouragement from her mischievous friend, Mary, Flora changes the Starkadders' lives forever when she settles into their rustic estate, bringing the backward clan up to date and finding inspiration for her novel in the process.

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Critics Consensus

Cold Comfort Farm sends up high-minded classics with a wit and impressive restraint that rivals its inspirations.

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Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Sep 7, 2011

A

Cold Comfort is Babe-ish in its perfection: Schlesinger, working with a zingy script by Malcolm Bradbury, has created a burnished little world much like those in his other BBC films, An Englishman Abroad (1983) and A Question of Attribution (1991).

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Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Jun 24, 2006

Malcolm Bradbury's script and John Schlesinger's direction ... between them coarsen, soften and simply lose much of Gibbons' extraordinarily sophisticated, wonderfully funny humour ...

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Emanuel Levy

Variety

Jun 2, 2006

4.5/5

Schelsinger's masterfully directed eccentric satire is based on Stella Gibbons' 1933 book which spoofs the serious, soul-searching, rural-set stories of writers like D.H. Lawrence and Mary Webb.

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John Griffin

Ottawa Citizen

Feb 13, 2025

Cold Comfort evolves effortlessly into a "romp," a "lark," and a tonic for the world-weary.

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Joe Leydon

The Moving Picture Show

Jul 18, 2014

3/4

[A] mischievous send-up of D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy and assorted other high-toned practitioners of grimly serious rural romances.

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Robert Levin

Critic's Notebook

May 2, 2009

3/5

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John Schlesinger

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Kate Beckinsale

Flora Poste

Sheila Burrell

Ada Doom

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Amos Starkadder

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Reuben Starkadder

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Synopsis

In this adaptation of the satirical British novel, Flora Poste, a plucky London society girl orphaned at age 19, finds a new home with some rough relatives, the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm. With a take-charge attitude and some encouragement from her mischievous friend, Mary, Flora changes the Starkadders' lives forever when she settles into their rustic estate, bringing the backward clan up to date and finding inspiration for her novel in the process.

Director: John Schlesinger
Producer: Alison Gilby
Screenwriter: Stella Gibbons, Malcolm Bradbury
Distributor: Gramercy Pictures
Production Co: Gramercy, Polygram
Rating: TV-PG (D|S), PG
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 10, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 1, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $5.6M
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Stereo

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