The Jealous God (NR)

synopsis

In an industrial town in Yorkshire during the mid-1960s, Vincent Dungarven's mother wants him to be a Roman Catholic priest and he half thinks that he has the vocation. He is a reserved young man, a schoolmaster, and at thirty has never been in love. One day he visits the local library and encounters Laura, a new librarian. Fascinated by her beauty and charm, he overcomes his shyness and asks her out. She accepts and soon he falls passionately in love with her, for although she is a Protestant - which creates tensions for Vincent at home - she is everything he has longed for but never found. Vincent has two older brothers, Matthew and Paul. Both of them are married with children. At a wedding Laura is introduced to his mother; but during a talk with Paul at the reception afterwards, Vincent realizes that all is not what it seems, and the rest of his family has been talking behind his back. Vincent encounters Laura's eccentric flat mate Ruth, who makes a devastating revelation about Laura's personal life that shatters everything for him. As the twists of fate intensify and his dilemma grows. By the time the film reaches its emotionally-charged climax, he finds his world has been shaken to its foundation in the pursuit of passionate love, and another man's life has been destroyed so that he can get it.