Spring Forward: Peter Strickland’s Future Slate includes “The Beginning of Spring”

A small blurb on Deadline about an joining CAA pretty much confirms that the helmer behind personal favorites Katalin Varga (2009) and this year’s Edinburgh/Locarno/TIFF preemed Berberian Sound Studio is moving into the sought after talent sphere. Filmmaker Peter Strickland might now make The Beginning of Spring film project number three.

Gist: Based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s 1988 novel, The Beginning Of Spring centers on Frank Reid, a struggling printer in Moscow. On the eve of the Revolution, his wife returns to her native England, leaving him to raise their three young children alone. How does a reasonable man like Frank cope? Should he listen to the Tolstoyan advice of his bookkeeper? And should he, in his wife’s absence, resist his desire for his lovely Russian housemaid? How can anyone know how to live the right life?

Worth Noting: In a sit down with ScreenDaily, Strickland mentioned a need to move away from too much darkness, hence moving towards a pair of love stories. We think that producers Pete Tombs and Andy Starke might be in on this one, if not then it might be the project that is being produced by Alexandra Stone, Lizzie Francke (from the BFI) and Katherine Butler (from Film 4).

Do We Care?: As expected, our TIFF viewing of Strickland’s sophomore film (to be released by IFC Films) confirmed what we already knew: this British filmmaker is strikingly original in his film plotting and if we’re connecting the dots correctly, we think that this 1917 set WWI adultery period item might indeed be his next project.