Stella

Film Review by I Bishop

Stella is a film based on the fairytale of Cinderella. Stella is a gentle romantic story filmed on location in beautiful Wigtownshire, Dumfries, and Galloway.

The film follows the story of a young German Jewish woman who travels from London to Galloway House in search of a job and safety in pre-WW2 Britain. She finds a job with Lord and Lady Rigg teaching their children German. The soft, simple filming takes the viewer through Stella’s attempt to keep her real identity a secret, but her flashbacks kept making it exceedingly difficult.

Stella becomes friends with the Head Housekeeper who guessed first off that she is Jewish. The head housekeeper tries to find information about the whereabouts and the safety of Stella’s parents. The film shows the area’s beauty from beaches to forests where Stella stumbles across what will become the love of her life, Will/William a wild-living poet but, unknown to Stella, also the eldest son to Lord and Lady Rigg.

Lord Rigg -an admirer of Hitler- invites Edwin Mosley to Galloway House where Stella and her choir of the local village children perform the German national anthem of that time for the party where Stella is shocked to discover Will's true identity

The film finishes with another song performed by the local village choir to congratulate will and Stella with their marriage. The final scene contains Stella putting on a nurse uniform whilst the camera pans around to a small picture of Will on her table, leaving the viewers wondering if Will died at war or if he is still alive

Overall, the film directed, written, and produced by Jessica Fox sets the storyline of a German Jew who escapes Germany and finds love and safety in Galloway House in Wigtownshire Dumfries and Galloway. Not only was Stella filmed locally, but Jessica Fox also managed to find 90% of the cast and crew locally including pupils from my school.