Farmer’s Bride

Farmer’s Bride, set in 1980s Ibadan, tells the story of Odun, a wealthy, lonely farmer who seeks solace in marriage with a young bride, Funmi. Funmi is not thrilled by the arrangement and so is resentful. She soon meets Odun’s nephew, Femi, and begins a “love” affair with him.

The film is a creation of Jack’enneth Opukeme (who also wrote Adire and Battle on Buka Street), starring Gbugbemi Ejeye, Femi Branch, Mercy Aigbe, Tobi Bakre, Wumi Toriola, and Efe Irele amongst others.

I was really excited to see this film in a London cinema and it’s safe to say I enjoyed every bit of it. Let’s talk about the specifics.

Story

I loved the story. It gave us characters that we could root for, even in their villainy!

The best part for me was how unpredictable it was from the beginning to the end. Typically, we don’t expect a woman who is practically forced into marriage to end up with a nice man, however, I loved that they made her old man husband someone we could empathize with.

The story gave us a fresh new perspective, not just about an old man who married a young wife by “force” but about how selfish the woman was, despite his love for her. Due to the circumstances surrounding the marriage, she couldn’t bring herself to love this old man. She wasn’t content, and so she ended up cheating on him, and eventually killing him. If she hadn’t cheated with his nephew, she would have done so with someone else.

I really wondered what possessed Funmi into thinking she could get away with killing a man that Morenike, a “herbalist”, was in love with, a man that Femi also loved?

There was a lot of delusion with Funmi and Femi to be honest. It was very childish of them both to have killed a whole human being over some fleeting feeling, thinking they would get away with it, and live happily ever after. A man who was very comfortable sleeping with his beloved uncle’s wife is one without boundaries, who will continue his philandering ways with other women, and a woman who killed her husband to marry you, will also kill you too. It’s giving Leviticus 20:20. What a mess!

Dialogue

I enjoyed the dialogue in the film, as it made us connect deeply to each of the characters every time they spoke, especially in the scene after Funmi and Femi’s first kiss where they both tried to deny what had happened, and Funmi took the plunge to say that she wanted more. Through their words, I felt the intensity of their lust for each other. It was the beginning of a sweet (read toxic) love story.

The only thing I’d say was slightly confusing for me was the relationship between Morenike and Odun. They kept saying she was the wife of his older brother, wife of his younger brother — it wasn’t consistent and it threw me off. Their relationship should have been clarified from the beginning, through the dialogue.

Cinematography

Generally, the camera angles were sick! Loved the camera angle on Funmi in the scene where she was telling her mum about not wanting to marry. It showed her immense sadness. The focus was on her emotions rather than her mother’s advice which I really loved.

I also loved the shots of Funmi on her wedding night, the first time she had sex with her husband — dark room, toes curling, clenched fists. Without being shown what was happening, we knew what was happening. The focus was on her, rather than the act itself. It was an uncomfortable and unfortunate situation, but not necessarily an uncomfortable watch and I really liked that.

Standout scenes

I loved how the scenes were connected. When Morenike tried to draw Funmi close, and showed her the different medicines, Funmi was particularly drawn to the potent medicine, not knowing that she’ll be needing it soon. Also, when she sees how they send babies to the stream as paternity tests, she immediately knows that she needs to gain her freedom before she loses her life for infidelity. Later on in the film, we can see how these two scenes connect, after Funmi gets pregnant for her husband’s nephew, Femi, and then poisons her husband.

Other standout scenes include:

• When Funmi opened the door and saw Femi for the first time, it was clear that it was love at first sight.
• When Funmi met Femi at the stream and he was talking but the only thing she could concentrate on was his body. Hilarious.
• When Funmi told Femi she was pregnant, we could see Femi going through the different emotions, however Funmi was ready with a plan to kill anyone who stood in her way of love and freedom.
• The final scene was an extremely satisfying watch. Femi assumes he’s been poisoned by Funmi, and then proceeds to choke her, then Morenike walks in to see the chaos which was caused by her invoking the spirit of vengeance, which has now led to the death of her only son.

Set design

I really liked the set design; consistent brownish colours were seen throughout the film, symbolizing simple, earthy tones, suppressed emotions, warmth and the illusion of stability.

Cast

Mercy Aigbe woooshhhh. What a woman. We have been sleeping on this woman’s talent because she was phenomenal. She was my favorite actor in the film. She carried the Nigerian mother persona on her shoulder, and delivered her role excellently!

Gbugbemi Ejeye really embodied Funmi. She was a very strong and confident character. I particularly loved how her character developed from the beginning of the film; she graduated from a sweet girl who was being forced to get married, to bitter wife, to cheating wife, to murderer. Her costuming was also quite significant — from her gorgeous hairstyles, to her makeup and the beautiful clothes she wore, the pieces really aided her portrayal of a Chief’s wife.

I loved Tobi Bakre’s character, Femi. He was a very playful boy and it was easy to like him. He had this very strong chemistry with Gbugbemi on screen and it was beautiful to watch. Their first kiss was really intense and it prepared the way for the trouble we were about to witness.

Efe Irele was a delight to watch on screen. I’m glad she is being given roles that bring out her talent. She’s a really good actress and I hope she gets more challenging roles.

I also want to say a massive congratulations to Wumi Toriola for delivering a great performance. She was only in two scenes but they were memorable. I’m really excited by how Yoruba film actors are now being casted in Nollywood blockbusters, it shows immense growth in the industry.

What did I learn?

Be content! Sometimes when God gives us something it may not look palatable to us, but He knows what’s best for us. Unfortunately when you’re greedy, you go for something more palatable to you and then meet your misfortune. Patience is key!

Also, be careful laying curses on people. Imagine Morenike asking for Odun to avenge his killer, without realizing her son was also a party to it. It was very unfortunate!

The film is 8/10 for me. I watched this in the cinema in London, but hopefully it’ll come to streaming platforms soon.

All images sourced from Nollywire.