Product Details

• Actors: Ioan Gruffudd, Nia Roberts, Sue Jones-Davies, William Thomas, Mark Lewis Jones
• Directors: Paul Morrison (III)
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Anamorphic
• Language: English, Welsh, Yiddish
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: January 30, 2001
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000051YMO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,387 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Solomon & Gaenor" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Rising Welsh star Ioan Gruffud (Titanic, Horatio Hornblower) stars as Solomon to Nia Robert's Gaenor in director Paul Morrison's Oscar®-nominated tale of star-crossed lovers living in the wrong place (Wales) at the wrong time (1911). Solomon is a Jewish packman who travels door to door selling fabric from his family's shop to the locals. It is on one such occasion that he meets Gaenor, the soft-spoken daughter of a miner. The attraction is mutual, but he conceals his true identity from her. A few visits (and one red dress) later, and Gaenor has fallen in love with the kindly "Sam" and has even introduced him to her family. But the more he resists her attempts to meet his family, the more she becomes convinced that hers is right and that his intentions are not honorable. Solomon is just as much in love, but he knows that his family would never accept Gaenor (any more than hers would accept him) if they knew the whole truth.

In the end, it isn't his lies that put their lives in jeopardy, but the fear and intolerance the lies were meant to keep at bay. The message may be heavy handed, but Gruffud and Roberts assay their roles with conviction and skill--a portion of his dialogue is in Yiddish and hers in Welsh. While they are together, Solomon and Gaenor speak the same language. English? Yes, but more importantly, the language that knows no borders--love. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solomon & Gaenor, June 11, 2000

By A Customer

Set amidst mining strikes and anti-Jewish riots, Solomon & Gaenor paints a haunting picture of forbidden love against the harsh background of rural 1911 Wales

Newcomer Ioan Gruffudd (Horatio Hornblower) is Solomon, a Jewish pacman (peddler) and Nia Roberts is Gaenor, a young Welsh chapel-going woman. Racial tensions divide this bleak coal-mining community, but for Solomon and Gaenor it's love at first sight. They meet while Solomon is making weekly door-to-door rounds selling fabric; Solomon, conscious of being a "Jew-boy" introduces himself to Gaenor as 'Sam Livingstone'.

Writer-director Paul Morrison unearthed a history of Jews in the Welsh valleys while researching a television documentary about Jews in Britain entitled A Sense of Belonging. Morrison says he wanted to tell the story of Jews in Wales, saying nobody even knew they were there; that most Britons are unaware of it. Gaenor herself is completely unaware of Solomon's true identity, but she isn't completely blind. "You're different," she tells him after their lovemaking in a hayloft. "You're even different down *there*." Solomon is careful to hide his tallit (prayer shawl) from Gaenor, and later, when she wants to meet his family, he makes lame excuses about them being out of town or unwell.

The film presents the period of the Great Unrest before the First World War harshly, depicting everyday life amongst rows of slate-roofed houses as one long grind of drudgery. The only colour to be found among the bleak landscape of grey houses, mud roads and miners grimed with coal dust is the swatch of red cotton Solomon leaves with Gaenor, saying, "It'd look lovely on you." She nervously declines; there is no extra money and a red dress is no good for chapel. "You wouldn't have the use of it," her mother says decisively. Without even knowing her name, Solomon works through the night to make Gaenor a dress of the same fabric. "Look at me," she says, shy and pleased. "What'll people think?"

"They are not our people, is all. They are different," is the verdict of Solomon's grandfather. The film's real tragedy lies in the inability of both cultures to accept such a union, despite their common ground including the ability to recite the Old Testament verbatim. While the theme of the film is cultural coexistence, or lack thereof, much of Solomon & Gaenor is taken up with the story of young love.

The lovers manage to meet secretly for a short while, but it isn't long before they're found out and Gaenor is denounced from the pulpit, charged with "fornicating with an outsider" by a jealous former suitor. Solomon's father tells him, "If you go with this girl, you are dead to us. We will say Kaddish over you," effectively disowning Solomon and grieving for him as if dead. Things could get worse, and they do: Gaenor is pregnant and anti-Jewish riots have spread from neighbouring towns to this one. Solomon keeps protesting "This isn't Russia," even as his family prepares to board up their shop and find a place to hide. There are no plot twists here: Morrison's story is a twentieth-century Romeo and Juliet, and just as moving in its tragic, inevitable conclusion. Excellent performances by Gruffudd and Roberts make this movie well worth watching.

Solomon & Gaenor was nominated for Best Foreign Film in the 2000 Academy Awards.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solomon & Gaenor, March 27, 2003

By	Z. Yang (Hockessin, DE USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Some people say that love is without reason. For Solomon, the young and gentle Jewish packman, and Gaenor, the tender and obedient daughter of a Welsh miner family, the fated attraction between them began with a glimpse, a few words, and a red dress, which he was up all night and made for her. Some people say that love is innocent. Concealing his identity, he loved her no matter what gap might be in between them. Discovering his true self, she loved him for who he is. Some people say that love is transcendent. Their relationship was inevitably secularized by their religions and origins. At the end love was fulfilled beyond everything but life itself couldn't.

This is a beautiful and tragic love story. But more than just a love story with romance and sentimentality, this film is an authentic portrayal of the cruel realities of barriers and bias between two families, or two cultures, so to speak. Ioan Gruffaudd and Nia Robert are excellent as Solomon and Gaenor. As much as Solomon's light personality and charming manner appeals Gaenor, Gaenor's womanhood and demureness attracts Solomon. He is deeply attached to Gaenor, while at the same time, he struggles to choose between his family and his love. This time "Hornblower" reveals his softer side and delivers the complexity of Solomon vividly. Nia Robert, with her fine artistry, brings unique strength to the character, which can be felt just from the expression of her eyes and her face. The music is beautiful. The camera depicts the story with simplicity and yet striking effectiveness.

While the story of Solomon and Gaenor is sad, the sadder lies in the fact that nobody but their own families, people who loved them, was to blame for the tragedy. Although one may find the time and location of the story - 1911 Wales - remote, the story itself is but familiar even in the modern times. If only there were more understanding and respect among people no matter what they believe in and where they come from!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Superb!!!, August 24, 2002

By	Tudor Holton (Melbourne, Vic, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solomon & Gaenor [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I love this film mainly because there is absolutely no sentimentality. It it very factual in its approach, and yet the angst is gut-wrenching, the scenery is incredible (the winter scenery was an amazingly good choice), and the warmth between Solomon and Gaenor is magic.

It seemed obvious to me that the fear that each of the two families had had grown out of lack of communication and understanding about each others background.

If I were looking for a moral to this tale, I'd say that it is that we need to learn to accept each other no matter what our background, and learn that love is something that transcends all and no laws or taboos should exclude those who are truly in love.