The Cement Garden (film)
Encyclopedia
The Cement Garden is a 1993 British drama film
directed by Andrew Birkin, based on the novel of the same name
. It was entered into the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival
where Birkin won the Silver Bear for Best Director
.
and the way that he is living his life and taking care of his body as of late- particularly his frequent masturbation. She informs him that breakfast is ready and that he needs to help his older sister, Julie, by bringing his younger siblings Tom and Sue home from school. Julie tells Jack on the way to school that he is too self-centered after he asks her why she appeared upset. Jack stops back at home to see his mother crying through the kitchen window and arrives at school in time to pick up Tom and Sue. Jack and Tom agree that they would have both prefer that their father had picked him (Tom) up from school. Some time later, dressed in a beekeeper's outfit, Jack tickles Julia until she pees
her pants and the bed on which she was laying. The next morning during breakfast Julia prepares a meal for their bedridden mother, while Jack, Tom, and Sue talk amongst themselves at the kitchen table. After she has finished preparing breakfast, Julie sets her plate down in front of Jack and insists that he take the breakfast up to their mother, which he initially refuses because it is his birthday. Upset by his laziness, the two get in a scuffle and Jack drops their mother's plate, which he had angrily picked up off the table. Sometime later that morning, Jack enters his mother's bedroom with a new breakfast for his mother who, despite being obviously ill, still expresses worry for her eldest son after giving him a birthday card she had hidden under her pillow. With their father dead and mother very ill, Jack and Julie quickly begin to take on paternal and maternal roles, respectively, with Jack protecting his younger brother from a school bully and escorting Tom and Sue to and from school and Jill preparing meals and seeing to her younger sibling's emotional needs.
[to be continued!]
"A delicate and beautifully filmed account of the innocence and confusions of youth within an adult world. ... Andrew Robertson and Charlotte Gainsbourg give performances of such seemingly effortless truth that they dominate the film. ... Highly sensitive and moving ... Extraordinarily sure-footed ... A positive triumph."
The Guardian
"Birkin has not compromised a jot. The film addresses the theme of family values much as a wrecking-ball might address a cathedral. It is a picture of Hell that shimmers into a glimpse of Heaven."
Financial Times
"Flawless, fresh performances and beautifully pellucid visuals."
The Independent
"Andrew Robertson gives a performance of astonishing maturity."
The Times
"It would be hard to imagine a more perfect interpreter for 'The Cement Garden' than Andrew Birkin. ... The screen is stiff with sexuality. ... Birkin directs his own fine screenplay with feather accuracy and daring. ... 'The Cement Garden' is one for all seasons."
Harpers & Queen
"One of the most assured pieces of film-making this country has seen in years ... pure cinema, a million miles away from the dull TV sheen so prevalent in most British movies. ... Totally original ... watch it and wonder!"
Impact
"Bleak but brilliant. (****)"
19 Magazine
"A gripping, nightmarish drama ... intensely chilling ... the screen seethes with decay ... a remarkable film. (****)"
Q
"Darkly erotic, wierd and electrifying. ... In a film without a bad performance, newcomer Andrew Robertson is a revelation."
Sight & Sound
"'The Cement Garden' captures like no other film the sweaty limbo of adolescence."
FHM
The film currently holds a 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Andrew Birkin, based on the novel of the same name
The Cement Garden
The Cement Garden is a 1978 novel by Ian McEwan. It was adapted into a 1993 film of the same name by Andrew Birkin, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Andrew Robertson...
. It was entered into the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival
43rd Berlin International Film Festival
The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 11 to 22, 1993.-Jury:* Frank Beyer * Juan Antonio Bardem* Michel Boujut* François Duplat* Katinka Faragó* Krystyna Janda* Naum Kleiman* Brock Peters...
where Birkin won the Silver Bear for Best Director
Silver Bear for Best Director
The Silver Bear for Best Director is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for best achievement in direction.-Awards:-Repeated winners:*Mario Monicelli *Satyajit Ray *Carlos Saura -External links:*...
.
Plot
The story begins with Jack watching his father, a smoker with a persistent cough, direct two men on where to place the cement for his garden in the family's back yard. Later, at dinner, Jack's father tells him that he must come straight home from school to help work on the garden. The next day, Jack returns straight home, as requested, but stops by the remains of some older house on the way home where he had hidden some cigarettes and a pornographic magazine. He smokes a cigarette before returning home to help his dad lay cement (at one point he is shown to be playing with a handful of wet cement). After some time, Jack wanders off to the bathroom where he begins to masturbate in front of his own reflection. His father collapses outside as Jack orgasms. Shortly afterward, Jack is looking on as an ambulance takes his father away in a body bag. Before going to bed he goes back into the garden to play with the cement again. Jake awakens with to find mother in the room; she immediately begins to express her concerns about him becoming a young manPuberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
and the way that he is living his life and taking care of his body as of late- particularly his frequent masturbation. She informs him that breakfast is ready and that he needs to help his older sister, Julie, by bringing his younger siblings Tom and Sue home from school. Julie tells Jack on the way to school that he is too self-centered after he asks her why she appeared upset. Jack stops back at home to see his mother crying through the kitchen window and arrives at school in time to pick up Tom and Sue. Jack and Tom agree that they would have both prefer that their father had picked him (Tom) up from school. Some time later, dressed in a beekeeper's outfit, Jack tickles Julia until she pees
Giggle incontinence
Giggle incontinence, giggle enuresis or enuresis risoria is the involuntary release of urine in response to giggling or laughter. The bladder may empty completely or only partially....
her pants and the bed on which she was laying. The next morning during breakfast Julia prepares a meal for their bedridden mother, while Jack, Tom, and Sue talk amongst themselves at the kitchen table. After she has finished preparing breakfast, Julie sets her plate down in front of Jack and insists that he take the breakfast up to their mother, which he initially refuses because it is his birthday. Upset by his laziness, the two get in a scuffle and Jack drops their mother's plate, which he had angrily picked up off the table. Sometime later that morning, Jack enters his mother's bedroom with a new breakfast for his mother who, despite being obviously ill, still expresses worry for her eldest son after giving him a birthday card she had hidden under her pillow. With their father dead and mother very ill, Jack and Julie quickly begin to take on paternal and maternal roles, respectively, with Jack protecting his younger brother from a school bully and escorting Tom and Sue to and from school and Jill preparing meals and seeing to her younger sibling's emotional needs.
[to be continued!]
Cast
- Andrew RobertsonAndrew N. RobertsonDr Andrew Robertson is a British actor best remembered for his performances in The Cement Garden and the Gormenghast series....
as Jack - Charlotte GainsbourgCharlotte GainsbourgCharlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
as Julie - Alice CoulthardAlice CoulthardAlice Coulthard is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Maisie Wylde in ITV soap opera Emmerdale.-Education:Born in London, Coulthard graduated in English Literature from University of Liverpool.-Career:...
as Sue - Ned Birkin as Tom
- Sinéad CusackSinéad CusackSinéad Moira Cusack is an Irish stage, television and film actress. She has received two Tony Award nominations: once for Best Leading Actress in Much Ado About Nothing , and again for Best Featured Actress in Rock 'n' Roll .-Background:...
as Mother - Hanns Zischler as Father
- Jochen HorstJochen HorstJochen Horst is a German/English Film, TV and Theater actor.Jochen Horst finished at the state College in Graz, Austria, the Music Academy of Performing Arts with "summa cum laud" in 1986...
as Derek, Julie's Friend - Gareth Brown as William
- William HootkinsWilliam HootkinsWilliam Michael Hootkins was an American character actor, most famous for supporting roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Wars, Batman and Raiders of the Lost Ark.-Early life:...
as Commander Hunt (voice) - Dick Flockhart as Truck Driver
- Mike Clark as Driver's Mate
Reception
The film received generally favourable reviews, although some of the tabloids were bemused, the Daily Mirror calling it "mad". Favourable reviews in the UK included:"A delicate and beautifully filmed account of the innocence and confusions of youth within an adult world. ... Andrew Robertson and Charlotte Gainsbourg give performances of such seemingly effortless truth that they dominate the film. ... Highly sensitive and moving ... Extraordinarily sure-footed ... A positive triumph."
The Guardian
"Birkin has not compromised a jot. The film addresses the theme of family values much as a wrecking-ball might address a cathedral. It is a picture of Hell that shimmers into a glimpse of Heaven."
Financial Times
"Flawless, fresh performances and beautifully pellucid visuals."
The Independent
"Andrew Robertson gives a performance of astonishing maturity."
The Times
"It would be hard to imagine a more perfect interpreter for 'The Cement Garden' than Andrew Birkin. ... The screen is stiff with sexuality. ... Birkin directs his own fine screenplay with feather accuracy and daring. ... 'The Cement Garden' is one for all seasons."
Harpers & Queen
"One of the most assured pieces of film-making this country has seen in years ... pure cinema, a million miles away from the dull TV sheen so prevalent in most British movies. ... Totally original ... watch it and wonder!"
Impact
"Bleak but brilliant. (****)"
19 Magazine
"A gripping, nightmarish drama ... intensely chilling ... the screen seethes with decay ... a remarkable film. (****)"
Q
"Darkly erotic, wierd and electrifying. ... In a film without a bad performance, newcomer Andrew Robertson is a revelation."
Sight & Sound
"'The Cement Garden' captures like no other film the sweaty limbo of adolescence."
FHM
The film currently holds a 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.