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6.3/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The First Year remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a soft spot for pre-code domestic dramas or just want to see Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell doing their thing, you’ll probably find this charming. If you need high stakes, car chases, or anything remotely modern, you will be bored to tears within fifteen minutes.
There is something inherently comforting about watching Gaynor and Farrell on screen together. They had that specific, practiced chemistry that feels like an old sweater you found in the back of the closet. In The First Year, they aren't saving the world or suffering through grand tragedies like in Seventh Heaven. They are just fighting about money and in-laws.
The whole thing feels like a stage play that decided to wander onto a film set. You can feel the echoes of the theater in how the characters stand around and wait for their turn to deliver a line. It is not necessarily a bad thing, just a bit stiff by today's standards.
There is a scene involving a dinner party that goes off the rails, and it honestly made me wince. We have all been to that dinner. The one where you’re trying to impress someone important and everything that can go wrong does. The way the movie leans into that awkwardness is surprisingly sharp.
I found myself getting distracted by the wallpaper in the background during the more exposition-heavy stretches. Does anyone else do that? Just stare at the set design when the dialogue gets a bit too wordy? The house feels like a character itself, and honestly, it looks like a nightmare to clean.
Maude Eburne steals pretty much every frame she is in. She has this way of looking at the other actors like she’s already figured out their entire life story and isn't particularly impressed. It is a small, grounded performance in a movie that sometimes tries a little too hard to be cute.
The pacing is a bit all over the place. Sometimes it sprints through months of marriage in a few seconds, then slows down to a crawl while someone makes a cup of tea. It is weirdly uneven, but somehow it works because marriage is also kind of weirdly uneven.
I wouldn't say this is a lost masterpiece or anything. It is just a snapshot of people being annoying and sweet and broke. Sometimes that is exactly what you need on a Tuesday night. ☕
The film ends on a note that feels earned, even if the road to get there is full of potholes. It is not trying to be a deep meditation on the human condition. It is just about a couple trying to get through dinner without screaming at each other. That is a goal I can get behind.
IMDb —
1918
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