This past Sunday was a snowy day and a great day to stay indoors and watch a few movies. Since Valentine’s Day was coming up, and readers would expect a column on love and relationships, I watched two good classics on that subject –When Harry Met Sally from 1989 and Getting Married in Buffalo Jump from 1990.
Getting Married in Buffalo Jump was filmed in Alberta. It has romance, relationships, culture differences, humour, farming, wonderful scenery, rodeo, and a downright irritable and interfering mother, played by Marion Gilsenan. The film was nominated for four Gemini awards.
It’s the story of how a city girl, Sophie, an only child, played by Wendy Crewson, discovers herself and the true meaning of love by returning to the Alberta ranch where she was raised. Sophie is disillusioned with her life in Toronto as a pianist. She feels she doesn’t have it to be a great pianist.
When Sophie’s father dies of cancer, he leaves the ranch to her in his will. Her mother is furious with her that she’s going to stay on the ranch and wanting to make it a good ranch again just as her dad did. She hires a local farmhand, Alex, played by Paul Gross, to work for her on the ranch.
Alex grew up on a neighbouring ranch to Ukrainian parents. She vaguely remembers Alex from her school days. The two make a great pair of ranch hands. Alex does all kinds of ranching chores. Sophie brings him cold water on hot afternoons and watches his shirtless body glistening in sweat.
Sophie’s mother is furious when Sophie calls off a date with the local school principal and goes out with Alex. “We’re just going out for a coffee, not breeding,” she tells her interfering mother.
In the restaurant Alex clumsily proposes a business proposition. Marriage! He says, “You want to farm, and I want to farm and I propose …” and then he stumbles around and finally takes the toothpick out of his mouth and proposes marriage. Sophie is taken aback by this suggestion, as she has always thought that people get married for love, not for business purposes. She is so upset she gets in the old truck and goes home, leaving Alex in town.
But the sly mom has enlisted the help of a young real estate agent, Sophie’s wild-driving city friend, Eleanor, played by Victoria Snow. Eleanor visits the farm and comes roaring down the lane in her sports car. For Sale signs are put up at the farm gate, but now Sophie is determined to marry the handsome Alex.
You’ll chuckle at all the pointless chores Alex does on the farm. He replaces the motor on the irrigation pump, but we don’t get to see what crops they are irrigating. There are no crops shown, so why are they irrigating?
Behind the relationship, there’s also a story about the clash of cultures. Alex’s parents won’t give him a share of their ranch because of his past sins. Alex’s only chance at ranching is if he can woo the sophisticated Sophie and marry her. Sophie gets thrown off her horse. Alex comes to the rescue. They go skinny dipping in a deep farm pond. They go to a rodeo. It’s sweet. Like sweethearts.
Alex’s parents also give the couple a lot of frustration when they talk marriage. There’s a lot of bargaining. The acting is excellent. Sophie and Alex beat the odds and do get married. In Buffalo Jump.
