Set in Sarnia, Ontario in 1991, teenage Beatrice is a cashier at a supermarket. One night while waiting in line at a drugstore, she notices a large lump on the back of the bald head of a boy her own age. Intrigued, she follows him and he eventually and reluctantly introduces himself as Henry, explaining the lump is a malignant tumor causing his rare form of cancer. They fall in love, their passion intensified by Henry’s impending surgery and the strong possibility of his death.
Meanwhile, Bea and Hank have been married for 40 years with two adult children and live for the sole purpose of hurting each other. Their love burned out long ago; they’re bored, bitter, depressed, and argue constantly. With nothing left but routine and resentment, Hank decides to buy a retirement home without consulting Bea, and she gets back at him by incurring financially ruinous construction and decorating expenses. Both couples are one and the same, at the beginning and end of their relationship, simultaneously existing in the same time period as if the 40 intervening years never happened and they’ve been stuck in time.
The Law of Enclosures is a Canadian drama film, released in 1999. The film was written and directed by John Greyson, and based on the novel The Law of Enclosures by Dale Peck. It stars Sarah Polley, Diane Ladd, Brendan Fletcher, Sean McCann, Shirley Douglas, Kelci Stephenson, Jennifer Villaverde, Susie Yamamota, Kristen Thomson and Allegra Fulton.
The story traces the marital relationship of Henry and Beatrice, characters based on Peck’s real-life parents, over the course of their lives from their courtship as young adults to their 40th wedding anniversary. For the film adaptation, Greyson set the events in 1991 against the backdrop of the first Gulf War, with Henry and Beatrice’s younger and older selves all coexisting in a single time frame.
Sarah Polley and Brendan Fletcher play Beatrice and Henry as a young couple, with Diane Ladd and Sean McCann playing the older characters. While author Peck was born in New York and raised in Kansas, Greyson set the film in Sarnia, Ontario. The score was written by Don Pyle and Andrew Zealley.
The Law of Enclosures (2000)
Directed by: John Greyson
Starring: Sarah Polley, Diane Ladd, Brendan Fletcher, Sean McCann, Shirley Douglas, Kelci Stephenson, Jennifer Villaverde, Susie Yamamota, Kristen Thomson, Allegra Fulton
Screenplay by: John Greyson
Production Design by: Réjean Labrie
Cinematography by: Kim Derko
Film Editing by: Mike Munn
Costume Design by: Charlotte Penner
Set Decoration by: Stephen Arndt
Music by: Don Pyle, Andrew Zealley
Distributed by: Momentum Pictures
Release Date: September 15, 2000
Visits: 90
