“A Cape Cod Christmas” brings a brief bit of holiday cheer to the M.V. Film Center on Sunday, Dec. 18. It’s a cinematic romance filmed in Falmouth and Woods Hole, and writer and director John Stimson, who summers in Falmouth, will be present for Q and A after the screening. The Stimson family’s house provided inspiration for the story.
The film focuses on the Cape Cod house that three siblings grew up in, and have decided to sell. But one of them, children’s book author Margot (Katie Leclerc), is reluctant to let go of a place still full of memories for her.
The viewer sees her reading one of her stories to an audience at a local bookstore. There’s a surprise member of the audience in attendance, who will turn up later. More important, Margot visits a Main Street gallery and discovers that the artist running it is Christian (Brent Bailey), a childhood pal now grown up. In flashbacks, the viewer learns that she and Christian were best friends, with even a bit of childhood romance thrown in for good measure.
Margot plans to decorate the house for the last Christmas she’ll share with her siblings. Now she has Christian to help her, and he even brings her a Christmas tree for the festivities. He also agrees to paint the house as a present for Margot’s sister Meredith (Cindy Lentol), as long as Margot agrees to let him draw a portrait of her. It’s time for another flashback — it turns out as a youngster, Christian already did a drawing of Margot. And this is one Margot has saved.
Margot still hopes to keep the family house, and asks Judith (Paula Plum), her editor, for an advance big enough to pay for it. When Judith turns her down because she lacks the financial success international distribution would bring, she’s resigned to losing the house. The next disappointment comes when her budding romance seems grounded after she sees Christian dining with another woman.
As is the case with most romances, several surprise twists come to finish off the story. Vineyarders should enjoy this sentimental Christmas romance with its settings in nearby Falmouth and Woods Hole.
Information and tickets for “A Cape Cod Christmas” are available at mvfilmsociety.com. Information on films playing at Edgartown Cinemas is available at yourneighborhoodtheatre.com/edgartown-cinema-2.
