Four Days in July (1984)

Directed by

Mike Leigh

Genre

drama film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 36m

Rating

6.6 of 10 from 14 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two couples in Belfast, one Catholic and one Protestant, go about their daily routines over four days in July 1984. Both couples are expecting a baby, and their children are born on the same day, a Protestant holiday. The film focuses on the ordinary moments of their lives against the backdrop of the Troubles.

observationallow-keyrestrainedintimatequietly tensegroundedeverydayunderstated

What happens

Four Days in July is a 1984 television film by Mike Leigh. Set and filmed in Belfast, the film explores the Troubles by following the daily lives of two couples on either side of Northern Ireland's religious divide, both expecting their first children. The film's action unfolds over 10–13 July 1984; the two couples' children are both born on 12 July, the date of a Protestant celebration in Northern Ireland known as the Twelfth. Despite the politically charged setting, the film is uniquely uneventful, at least on the surface; Paul Clements writes that "It is hard to identify any full length work by Leigh in which less of consequence seems to happen." Broadcast only once, it was Leigh's last film for the BBC. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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