Feast of July is a 1995 American-British neo noir crime film directed by Christopher Menaul and produced by Merchant Ivory Productions, based on the 1954 novel by H. E. Bates, starring Embeth Davidtz and Ben Chaplin.

[2][3] The movie opens with Isabella Ford (Embeth Davidtz) travelling alone from Selmouth to Addisford on foot, and in an increasingly pathetic state.

Arriving in Addisford late in the evening, she meets lamplighter Ben Wainwright (Tom Bell), and enquires after a man named Arch Wilson (Greg Wise).

He instructs his wife (Gemma Jones) to get Bella washed up, and introduces his three children, Matty (Kenneth Anderson), Con (Ben Chaplin) and Jedd (James Purefoy).

Matty, the youngest, is a shoemaker, Jedd is a soldier, and Con does not have a profession, but helps out with family chores.

Bella is unable to eat any food offered her, but bursts into tears, and faints when she stands up to go to bed.

That evening, Bella takes a pair of shoes that she received as a present from Arch to Matty in order to alter them as they are too large.

After dancing with Con, Bella asks him why he fought Jedd, and requests he watch his temper, as she does not want any troubles in the family which took her in.

When the bullying gets worse, Con, in a fit of rage, kills Arch with a stone, in spite of Bella's attempts to stop him.

Blists Hill Victorian Town and the Black Country Living Museum were used as filming locations.

[5][6] The film was scored by Zbigniew Preisner and the music subsequently released as a soundtrack album by Angel Records.

The album consists of nine tracks by Preisner with two "Harvest Dances" containing music for the film by Rachel Portman.