Silas Martin

If you enjoyed Steve Martin in Roxane then this could be another film for you, although this is a serious drama rather than a comedy. It is loosely based on the story of Silas Marner, though you don't need to know that, or the story of Silas Marner (George Eliot), to enjoy the film; it works well in its own right.

Steve Martin is a recluse living in a cabin in the woods making furniture for a living and hoarding all that he earns in a collection of coins. He adopts a toddler that arrives at his cabin after her mother dies in the snow. Her real father is a politician (played by Gabriel Byrne). He recognised the toddler when she was first discovered and it was being decided who should foster her, but pretended he did not know her. He follows her upbringing though and befriends her. Years later he tries to get her back through a paternity suit in the courts.

Steve Martin turns in a passable serious performance, and Gabriel Byrnes plays an excellent bad guy who wants to be good, a role he is good in. The star of the film is the series of actreses who played the daughter, two sets of twins, some sisters and others. This was excellent casting as you could believe it was the same girl growing up.

The film does not explore in great depth the relationship between the daughter and her two fathers (step and natural) as a French film would, but it gives an insight in to her loyalty to both and at the same time tells an entertaining story.

An added bonus for those who know Silas Marner is to see how the adaptation was done. It may be considered cheating or lazy to use someone elses plot and reset it in a different period, but for it to work well there has to be a lot of adjusting and re-working to make it fit, almost as much effort as writing something from scratch. In this case I think it was well done and can be regarded as an homage to the original although a different work in its own right.

JG