A Canterbury Tale

A strange film set in the English countryside during the war. Three people get off at the wrong station at night: a British soldier, an American sergeant and a woman who has come to work on the land. Walking in the dark, someone attacks her and pours glue in her hair. This is not new in the town. The same thing has been happening for months and no one has been caught. The three start investigating together. But the film is not a detective story. The real subject is the road to Canterbury: the characters are moving along a pilgrim route used since the Middle Ages, and each is looking for something they have lost. The question of the culprit is settled at a certain point and the narrative moves on to what it actually cares about. Its most-cited element is the opening: a hawk hangs in the sky, the image cuts, and a fighter plane appears in the same sky. Centuries pass in a single cut. It was supported during the war to strengthen the tie between Britain and America, but the film does not proceed like propaganda. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger directed. It was not understood on release and was received poorly; it later came to be counted among the pair's most original work. A worthwhile discovery for anyone who likes British classics and unconventional storytelling. For a viewer who wants a clear story, the film is odd, diffuse and deliberately pushes plot into second place.