It's Glace Bay, Nova Scotia in the 1940s. Almost everyone works in the dangerous coal mine and there is a Chinese diner in town. Margaret MacNeil (Helena Bonham Carter) falls for bagpipe-playing Neil Currie (Clive Russell) who got himself fired from the mine. She lives with her mother Catherine (Kate Nelligan), younger brother Jimmy, father Angus (Kenneth Welsh), grandfather Dunald who suffers from black lung, and others. She continues to lose family to the mine. Jimmy has an illicit romance with mine manager's daughter Marilyn. Neil uses discarded materials to build a house overlooking the sea for Margaret. In a flashforward at the start of the movie, Margaret is running a museum in the house which horrified a visitor sending her running.
Paraphrasing the famous Se7en line. What's in the Museum!? Other than that, the story is a little rambling. The central relationship isn't that dramatic. There are very few hurdles for their pairing. It delivers a compelling sense of the place. The tension is simply not that high. It does have a shock for the ending. I certainly understand the difficulty in adapting the novel but it's not dramatic enough (except for What's in the Museum!).
Paraphrasing the famous Se7en line. What's in the Museum!? Other than that, the story is a little rambling. The central relationship isn't that dramatic. There are very few hurdles for their pairing. It delivers a compelling sense of the place. The tension is simply not that high. It does have a shock for the ending. I certainly understand the difficulty in adapting the novel but it's not dramatic enough (except for What's in the Museum!).