Bellwether Films > Nosey Parker

1. British:'busybody':an officious or inquisitive person.
2. New England,[chiefly] Vermont: the latest offering from independent filmmaker John O'Brien. A Bellwether Films & Nosey Pictures Production: Starring George Lyford, Natalie Picoe, Richard Snee & Fred Tuttle.

Natalie Picoe & Richard Snee

Sick of suburbia, Natalie and Richard Newman move to rural Vermont where they expect the unspoiled setting and the indigenous values to rejuvenate their marriage. Natalie wants to start a family; Richard, who has grown children from a first marriage, does not.

As a compromise, they build a trophy house.

The construction of this dreamhouse inevitably leads to a visit from the local tax assessors (known in Vermont as town listers).

This confrontation introduces the Newmans to George Lyford, a lister, farmer, and somewhat xenophobic native. Over the course of two inspections, Natalie and George develop a flirtation, which eventually results in George becoming Natalie's handyman.

The relationship between Natalie and George matures into a friendship with moments of intimacy and even sexual tension, but their connection, their connectedness, never becomes infidelity; this is a love story, not a love affair.

George Lyford

When George and Natalie's bond eventually makes Richard jealous, each party to the triangle makes an effort to defuse the crisis. There is not a plotted climax at the end of the film, but rather a synthesis of the film's themes: the new and the old; life and death; fiction and non-fiction.

All photographic images
on this page by Jack Rowell