Rent Dulcima (1971)

Interesting British Social Drama - Dulcima review by GI

An interesting British drama about passion and jealousy marked by the two outstanding lead actors. John Mills plays lonely and miserly Parker, a widowed farmer who likes his drink a little too much and lives in borderline squalor on his large but rundown farm in the West Country of England. Carol White plays local girl, Dulcima, who takes pity on Parker one day and helps him to clean his house. She's the eldest of a large family and put upon by her parents and she dreams of a better life. When she discovers Parker has hordes of cash she begins to manipulate him including with sex to get her hands on it. But she's unprepared for the deep passions she awakens in the elderly farmer. White is a first class actor, often forgotten nowadays, as her career was short due to her own personal problems that resulted in an early death, partnered here along with the great John Mills lifts this drama into a story of passions that threaten to engulf all around them. The film captures the age where England still struggled with the shadow of the Second World War right into the 60s and 70s especially in remote rural communities where a patriarchal lifestyle was the norm. Dulcima represents the awakening of women to a better life than one of drudgery as wife and housekeeper. In the film Dulcima resists the marriage proposal of Parker but not totally, she's torn between the safety of his wealth and the dream of escape to a better life. She comes to life when she buys new clothes for herself almost reaching the mystical world of which she dreams. In that sense this is a most interesting social study and a film that has been mostly forgotten. It's well worth seeking out.