The Cement Garden

Based on the 1978 novel of the same name by English author Ian McEwan, The Cement Garden directed by Andrew Birkin was released in 1993 to critical accliam. A bona-fide cult classic which attracted plenty of controversy due to it's taboo content.

Our protagonists are Jack (Andrew Robertson),  a selfish narcissistic 15-year old boy. Julie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), his 17-year old sister and his two younger siblings, 13-year old Sue (Alice Coulthard) and 6-year old Tom (Ned Birkin). After their father has a heart attack and dies, their mother falls sick, telling her children that when she passes away to not tell anybody for they will get fostered off and their house will be torn down. Soon, the mother dies too and the children bury her in a cement coffin down in the basement. The rest of the film follows the children s attempts to stay together as a family while dealing with their grief and their unraveling mental states.

Holy shit though, this is a haunting movie. At first, Jack is a unlikable character and is generally just a wank stain of a teenager but after the Mothers death he does mature as the makeshift father-figure of the family. To be fair, everyone was pretty much a shithead teenager and he can still be pretty relatable. Still, I like his character arc. Andrew Robertson puts in a hell of an effort, channeling Malcolm McDowell's Alex DeLarge at times. He hasn't really done all that acting since (He's a musician now) and it's a shame, cause the kid is talented. Charlotte Gainsbourg is fine too, she occasionally mumbles a few lines but her facial expressions and emotion she can get across is great. Alice Coulthard is probably the most surprisingly good child actor I've seen in a while, I like the fact she is looks different from her sister and brothers too, it's a nice way of visually showing her isolation from the family. Ned Birkins is probably the only one that ain't so good performance wise. He can be pretty creepy looking (think Damian from Omen) but his lines are stumbled through and rather blank. He's a kid though and most of the time it looks like he'd rather be playing with his Transforming Ninja Reptile Mutants® toys than learning lines with his cousin and Dad. I don't really have a problem with him being the directors son though (Gainsbourg is his niece), in the scheme of things it kinda makes it more chilling.

So lets get straight down to the main event shall we? The elephant in the room. The incest. When I tell my friends to watch this, I summarize it as "A film where two teenagers mum dies and they start fucking" and they are always "What the fuck? That's disgusting" and I reply "Yeah I know but it's handled beautifully" and they look at me as if I suggested brushing your teeth with a hacksaw. But it is handled well. Near the start, Jack accidentally causes Julie to orgasm while tickling her and it is deeply uncomfortable and awkward but after they fill into their roles as mother and father in the makeshift family, it's not as shocking. And that's what I have to give credit to this movie for: Never using the incest just for shock value. Well played movie.

I'm not a fan of Julie's boyfriend Derek (Jochen Horst) and it's my biggest gripe with the film. He is first introduced to get Jack jealous and re-affirm his feelings for Julie (which is beyond a crush at this point) but after he gets suspicious by the absence of the mother and foul smell emitting from the basement, you think "Oh fuck, shits about to go down". It doesn't though and it's disappointing because the third act should be rife with tension. Instead, Derek is more or less "Yo, I know your momma is buried down in the basement" and they are all "Naw, that is just our dog." It's a misstep and although this a very faithful adaptation of the novel, these scenes could have taken some liberties. I thought that this is when Derek would be in danger and the kids would do anything to keep their secrets hidden. When he is in the basement demanding to know what is in the concrete tomb and all four children are down with him, I assumed he was never getting back out. Really though, the kids don't really seem to give a shit and are under the impression all of it will be revealed eventually anyway.

The film is beautifully shot and directed. It's a real shame Andrew Birkin never directed more because the cinematography is gorgeous and he really perfected the look and feeling of the novel. On such a small budget too, you can't help be impressed. I love a particular shot where after establishing that there is a large crack (getting larger too) in the mothers coffin, we cut to a shot of cracked concrete with swarming ants pouring out of it before it pans up to show the front of the house. That is just fantastic.

81/100 "I thoroughly recommend this movie, it is dark, sparse, disturbing and utterly hypnotic. "

KRS