The Land in Winter

Eric arrives home in a foul mood. Irene has dressed up, craving physical intimacy, but Eric curtly reminds her he is on call all weekend. Irene is understanding, reminding herself that her role is to “absorb” her husband’s stress.

When Irene mentions Rita’s visit, Eric is suspicious, asking what Rita wanted and whether she charged for the eggs. He worries they are now socially indebted and hopes Irene did not invite them to their Christmas party. When Irene admits she did, Eric reveals that Rita’s father is a patient at the “asylum.” He cynically observes that, due to new policies, all psychiatric patients will soon be released into the community.

After dinner, Eric declares that Irene’s coq au vin is wasted on him. They watch television, including a news report of a British nuclear bomb test in Nevada. When Eric goes to bed, Irene resolves to clean the kitchen spotlessly, recalling her mother’s belief that women could either be “sluts” or “good wives.”

Rita tunes to Radio Luxembourg in the kitchen while sausages burn on the Rayburn stove. Bill removes the ruined pan, and Rita performs a flirtatious lip-sync to the song “Bobby’s Girl,” reminding Bill of her past at Bristol’s Pow-Wow club. Rita mentions visiting Irene and being invited to the Parrys’ Christmas party. Bill dislikes parties, considers Dr. Parry self-important, and describes Irene as “posh.” Rita says Bill is also “posh,” but he denies this, asserting that upper-class people view his father as “a jumped-up little immigrant” (121). When Rita asks about Drusilla’s calf, Bill lies, saying it has not arrived yet. Exhausted, he falls asleep at the table.

Rita watches Bill sleep and formulates a plan to see Irene again soon. She stands in the foggy doorway, fantasizing about a rescue mission arriving to collect her and Irene.

Eric attends Stephen Storey’s postmortem. The pathologist, Seven, expertly removes Stephen’s organs, weighs his heart, then prepares to open the skull, musing on Descartes’s theory that the soul resides in the pineal gland. Eric excuses himself and leaves.

Driving from the city, Eric passes the hillside cemetery where his father is buried. He parks in a clearing by the woods, and Alison arrives. They walk toward an old house, and Eric tells her that a policeman visited him about Stephen Storey’s death. He read the suicide note, which detailed Stephen’s disillusionment with humanity’s addiction to violence, illustrated by the creation of the H-bomb.

Back at the cars, Alison gives Eric an early Christmas present: a watch with a Rolex body and his initials engraved on the back. She performs oral sex on him, and he thinks about how Irene’s only attempt at the act felt “dutiful.” After Alison leaves, Eric realizes ending the affair will not be simple. He resolves to do it in the New Year, using Irene’s pregnancy as justification.

Bill gets up before dawn and milks the cows. He recalls Rita once making a flower garland for her favorite cow and photographing it with her father’s war camera.

Bill leads the bull to the dispersal yard, hoping it will mate with the cows. The bull stands motionless; the cows ignore it. Bill murmurs a crude encouragement before returning to the house.

In the kitchen, he makes scrambled eggs and listens to news reports about Polaris missiles and the Mariner spacecraft approaching Venus. Rita comes down, eats a biscuit with egg, then goes upstairs to vomit.

Later, at the bank, Bill presents his ambitious plan to convert the hangar at the airfield into housing for 500 beef cattle. The bank’s manager, Harrison, is intrigued but notes Bill’s limited experience. He suggests that Bill find a guarantor to put up half the capital, and asks pointedly about family. Bill insists he and his wealthy father are not close.

Irene and Rita wait at the local station for the Bristol train. Rita mentions that Bill is seeing the bank manager. She reveals she has never met Bill’s father and that they had a small registry-office wedding attended only by friends.

On the train, Rita is overwhelmed by nausea and memories. Four years ago, she became pregnant by Eugene, her employer at the Pow-Wow club. Eugene paid for a termination at Nanny Simpson’s house. Rita cries as she remembers the painful walk back to the bus stop afterward.

At the cinema, the manager, Tony, greets Rita by name. The double-bill is Journey to the Seventh Planet and First Spaceship on Venus. Rita introduces Irene to Byron, the Black projectionist, explaining that she worked with Byron’s sister, Gloria. Irene admits that the only Black people she has interacted with are London bus conductors. Rita informs her that Bristol buses refuse to hire Black conductors.

During the second film, Rita leaves to vomit. Irene finds her in the ladies’ toilet and holds her head. In the foyer bar afterward, Tony invites them for drinks, and Byron joins them. Irene feels out of place but senses a kind of freedom in this casual, mid-afternoon gathering.

Rita helps with preparations for the party and alters a dress to fit Irene’s pregnant form. On the evening of the party, Tessa and her married lover, David, a playwright, arrive from London. Tessa complains that David spent Christmas drunk and guilt-ridden over his wife. Eric returns late, and Gabby Miklos arrives alone, praising Irene’s cooking. Neighbors Phillip and Christine Duckworth arrive with news of incoming snow.

When Bill and Rita arrive, David romanticizes farming, critiques capitalism, and describes Rita as “authentic.” Frank and Alison Riley arrive with their teenage son, John. Eric observes Alison’s beauty, unable to decide if their affair is “vulgar” or vital.

Rita changes the record to Bach’s “St. John Passion,” and Eric immediately removes it from the player. Rita mentions visiting her father at the “asylum” on Christmas morning. Eric suggests her father may no longer need hospitalization, but Rita says he would burn down the farm if released.

Frank’s employer, Edward Strang, arrives with his wife and teenage daughter. He distributes cigarettes and cigars from a box. Eric makes a strong gin punch, and the party grows chaotic. Irene tends to Tessa as she vomits and cries remorsefully over stealing another woman’s husband. After settling Tessa in the guest room, Irene finds Alison in her bedroom, looking at The Arnolfini Marriage. They discuss pregnancy and motherhood. Alison confesses she is not a good mother and asks which side of the bed Eric sleeps on.

Downstairs, Irene tells Eric about the encounter, and he becomes angry. Bill finds himself in conversation with Gabby, who recounts his family’s Holocaust experience in Hungary—being rounded up, transported by train, and arriving at a concentration camp. Bill mentally withdraws; Gabby senses this and stops. He points out Rita dancing the mashed potato in the center of the room.

The party breaks up. As Bill and Rita walk home across the field, it begins to snow. They bow their heads and push on, uncertain of their direction.