The Dwelling Place

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Clive proved to be reliable and loving. She loved Cissie truly and never pressed her with his presence and desires, never came whining to her, as Matthew did many times. The other family we meet are the Fischels. They’re gentry! Also, they’re a can of nuts. Daddy Fischel’s an asshole, Clive Fischel’s a fop, and Isabelle Fischel has been driven insane by the fashions of the 1830s, one of history’s ugliest eras.

I’d say all this change of custody is really scarring, but I think this kid will have plenty of problems just from his wardrobe. Even though he’s wearing the bad-guy moustache, he’s apparently contrite about what he’s done. We know this because when he sees Cissie again, he follows her into the secluded glen where she keeps an eye on her kid and Daddy Fischel, and when she sees Clive and tries to run away he lies down on top of her so he can explain how contrite he is! What a sweetie. I’d like to say this is an unusual screencap, but it’s not. We just sort of have to take the movie’s word for it that she’s smart and pretty, since she spends most of the movie staring blankly into space and marrying rapists. He runs after her on the moor and asks her if she loves Matthew the carpenter. She’s like, “Nah, he’s never around when I need him.” Her ninety-six siblings are like, “Wait, what?” One of Ray's first roles was in the Catherine Cookson drama The Dwelling Place. He also appeared in a later Catherine Cookson adaptation, The Tide of Life, which starred Gillian Kearney.Unable to see her sister condemned to such a fate, Cissie strikes a bargain with Lord Fischer, offering to hand over the baby if he will use his influence to secure the dropping of charges against Bella. So, The Dwelling Place is about the fiercely beautiful and clever Cissie Brodie, who marries her rapist. One of the funniest things about this miniseries is that everyone else you meet in the entire thing thinks it’s a stupid idea to live in a cave. The priest is like, “…a cave, really?” and the guy who’s clearing out the furniture from the hovel actually lets them take all the furniture into the cave, because he’s like, “…a cave, really?”

Ok, it seems there are many contradictions regarding the plot of this story and personally, I feel, this is as a result of many who had watched the mini-series believing the novel is accurate to the tv/movie adaptation, which it is not. Cissie’s only real ally is Matthew, the carpenter from the village, who’s sweet on Cissie even though he’s married to Rose the miller’s daughter. He’s played by Ray Stevenson, whom the Catherine Cookson miniseries have trained me never to trust, since he plays a jerk in two of them. I thought it was well written tale of a woman (by the end of the novel is much older unlike in the movie) of strength and impeccable character who overcomes ALL obstacles.

Ray was married to actress Ruth Gemmell, who he met when they worked together on the drama Band of Gold. They later played a husband and wife on screen in Peak Practice. But the couple are now divorced.