Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

The Raj in the Rain

    • Director

      Patrick Cooney

    • Credits

      Producer: Patrick Cooney

  • Category

    Documentary

The Raj in the Rain is an affectionate, insightful and frequently bizarre portrait of a dwindling tribe – the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy. For centuries, the landed gentry lead privileged lives in palatial mansions on vast rambling estates. Following Ireland’s independence, the community entered a period of decline, estates were broken up and today fewer than 30 families occupy their original estates. The film presents a kaleidoscope of snapshots of this almost extinct tribe as they potter around their crumbling piles contemplating their lot. Among them are: Sir John Leslie, 96-year-old night-clubber of Castle Leslie; Olivia Durdin-Robertson of Huntington Castle, member of the Temple of Isis; Mark Bence Jones of Glenville, Co. Cork chronicler of his peers; and Josslyn Gore Booth as he leaves his Sligo home in Lissadell. Filmed over ten years this documentary offers access to this rarefied world and its eccentric inhabitants.

Notes by Sunniva O'Flynn.

120 minutes, Ireland, 2012, Colour

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