With the stately, grounded appeal of a John Ford film from the 1940s, Terence Davies’ “Sunset Song” traces the life of a graceful young Scottish woman in the Scotland of the early 1900s.

A luminous Agyness Deyn, who resembles the young Annette Bening, plays Chris, a gentle schoolgirl whose abusive father (a menacing Peter Mullan) beats her beloved brother and drives her mother to despair. Yet a romance with a kind-hearted farmer (Kevin Guthrie) brings her peace amid distant rumblings of unrest.

Davies’ quiet, painterly film largely eschews musical cues that would heighten its emotional impact, but as it is, “Sunset Song” is captivating in its sincerity.