Farmer’s Bride follows Funmi (played by Gbubemi Ejeye), a young girl forced into marriage with a rich but old farmer, Odun (played by Femi Branch). Funmi struggles with the idea of this marriage, so she begins a forbidden affair with Odun’s nephew, Femi (played by Tobi Bakre). This secret relationship ultimately leads to tragic consequences.
After I saw the trailer of this movie in 2024, I had been looking forward to seeing it. Well, it was not really what I was expecting, and I felt a little frustrated while watching this film because it had all it needed to be sooooooooooooooo good, but the story just seemed to be missing some important parts. But, I liked it still, and I was not upset while watching it.
What Worked?
I liked the story. A simple premise that had so much potential, and most importantly, it surprised me because it really did not unfold as I expected.
I thought Farmer’s Bride was a beautiful film. I liked the setting and the lighting; I liked the use of colours! I liked the houses they used and the set pieces, especially the look of Odun’s living room. So many scenes were just really well-composed. Cinematography was really good; it enhanced the storytelling.
I thought hair and costume worked really well. I especially really liked Funmi’s outfits and hair (I did not like the afro though). That scene where she wore the red dress and her hair was in a round shape was my favourite.
Acting and casting were really good. Gbubemi’s performance was so layered; it was how she said so many things with just her eyes. I liked seeing Tobi Bakare play a different role from the action movie characters that we are used to seeing. I thought he did a good job embodying Femi. Efe Irele was actually a delight to watch, and Femi Branch gave a decent performance as Odun. I must commend Mercy Aigbe’s performance as Morenike. It was really good. In fact, I must say that this year, I have been impressed by every performance from her. While she has always been a good actress, it just feels like she has matured even more as an actress, and that has been really exciting to see.
Although it’s one of the major failings of this film (we’ll talk about that in a bit), I liked the storytelling at the beginning of the film; it pulled us in. Even though they did not tell us anything in particular, just looking at Odun and Morenike made us feel like there was something special between them. As soon as Funmi saw Femi, you could feel the shift. I honestly was looking forward to seeing how the rest of the story would play out.
The characters in this film were flawed in one way or the other, but I liked them still.
There was Odun, who refused to follow the woman who was his age, even though they obviously had a connection, but decided to pursue a young girl who should have been in school.
It was interesting to see Funmi, the innocent girl, commit one evil after another. When the movie started, I would not have imagined that she would become such a villain. She was selfish and did not understand the concept of taking accountability. I was so shocked by her audacity, because how can you be upset that someone else is sleeping with Femi? Femi?! 😂
Femi was such an unserious man. A disloyal philanderer. When the guilt started to eat him up, I did not feel bad for him because, in my opinion, he did not even suffer enough.
Banke the model. She wasted her life. The scene where she was killed, I just opened my mouth because how slow can you be not to just walk away after hearing all that?
So all the characters were not the best people (maybe except Morenike), but still, they were not unlikeable. They were just… humans driven by their own selfish interests. I think what I liked the most about how the film presents the characters is the fact that it does not try to explain or justify their actions. It does not force us to like them either, and I appreciated that. They were just people doing things “some” people do.
I loved the soundtrack. It was so moving, so fitting. Every sound gave the film character, personality, and depth. I loved all the songs, especially “The Best Part” by Savy Henry. 
Issues
I think the first thing that keeps nagging at you while watching this film is the feeling that some scenes were missing. You’ll feel like if only some scenes were included, it would have flowed more naturally, making the storytelling more engaging. For example:
The relationship between Funmi and Femi: It would have been nice to see at least one or two more scenes with them actually relating before diving into an affair. Yes, she was attracted to his physique, but they saw each other only a couple of times, they barely spoke, and the next thing, he is asking her to meet him somewhere, and I wondered how they got there. Personally, I thought they even had an important plot device that could have helped with this, but it seemed they forgot about it. What do I mean? Apart from Funmi’s physical attraction to Femi, he had also just come back from the University. Remember that she really wanted to study but did not get a chance. That could have and should have been common ground, something to talk about and bond about. Picture scenes where he bragged about university life trying to sound smart (that’s how those street uncles seduce young girls). That would have been enough to turn her crush to full-blown awe and admiration and then love, which would explain why she was willing to risk everything to be with him.
Funmi’s friendship with Banke: We only saw them speak once, but subsequent scenes made us believe they were friends. It would have been nice to see more.
This brings me to the next issue I had with this film and why I felt some frustration while watching. There were so many other things they could have and should have explored to make the film more compelling. Instead, they spent time on things that were not necessary.
For example, I’m sure we all would have liked to know a little bit more about Morenike, a little backstory about Morenike and Odun, because the way he looked at her, the way she looked after him… they even mentioned that Odun saw her first but let his brother marry her. I would have preferred to watch that than scenes of Odun being the town’s storyteller. What was the purpose? What was the point of Odun being a drummer? The film was supposed to be about a farmer. Why did we see him on his farm only once? ALL the drum scenes could have been scrapped, and it would not have affected the story. Including the scene where Morenike was beating the drum to calm the baby down.
See, I had questions while watching this film! Why did Odun not inherit Morenike if that was the culture in their family?
When the film started, they made it a point to talk about how scarily perceptive Morenike was. Femi even mentioned how growing up, she could hear trees, wood, and sometimes it felt like she could hear his thoughts. Having established that about Morenike, how come she did not even suspect that they were having an affair? Those people were not even trying to hide. How come Morenike did not notice that her bottle of poison was missing, because we never saw Funmi return it?
What exactly did Odun’s ghost do? He only burned the whole farm? That’s all. The whole ghost revenge trope was so underwhelming…such a lazy ghost because he might as well have continued sleeping.
What was the point of Odun’s ghost entering Funmi’s stomach? It did absolutely nothing for me.
Another thing that most people would struggle with (I know I did) with the Farmer’s Bride is the fact that it was quite difficult to place this film in a particular period. Also, the way they spoke and the dialogues made me pause. I must mention that I thought the dialogues were really good. The only thing is that those lines sounded like something you would hear in a stage play/theatre. For a film that was supposed to be set in the 90s in Ibadan, I thought the English was too much, too fluent, the Yoruba not deep enough and not fluent enough, especially since it was never established that they were all very educated. More importantly, the lead actress could not speak Yoruba properly. She tried her very best, but she faltered so many times. It was quite distracting.
I’ll wrap up this review by saying I did not really like the final part of the movie. The return of Odun’s ghost should have been the highlight, but everything felt rushed and disjointed from that point. Her mother showing up suddenly was weird (her mother did not even visit her when her husband died, when she got pregnant, or when she married another man). They did not need to travel on water to see a herbalist either.
The scene where they died. Personally, I did not hate it because I was just happy none of them was spared, but I will also admit that it was very abrupt. They had not even suffered at all, what they did never came to light. It seemed like Morenike only connected the dots after seeing the dead bodies. I guess we can assume that Odun was the one who choked Femi, but it would have been nice not to assume. And even though they both died, it felt kind of underwhelming, and you almost feel the urge to ask, “Is that it?”
Overall, Farmer’s Bride was not a bad watch, but it could have been better. Helped by good acting, beautiful visuals, and a great soundtrack, but the storytelling was just not tight enough…I could not look past the unexciting climax, and unsatisfying ending.
My Rating: 6/10
Have you seen the movie, please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Read the review of Ms Kanyin here.
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