The writer and actor Alan Bennett says in the film that he has long tried to define what it is to be English, but is sure "Ravilious is part of it". He feels the artist "might not be properly estimated… [and that's] because he's so easy to like. He's so loved yet he nevertheless is a shared secret". He appreciates the childlike and innocent aspect to Ravilious's style, but notes a Surreal edginess in it, citing the 1939 painting Tea at Furlongs, the flint Sussex cottage Eric and Tirzah shared with artist Penny Angus: "It's seemingly a very peaceful scene but its emptiness is ominous, and I think it could equally be called Munich, 1938."
