The Serpent's Kiss
Encyclopedia
The Serpent's Kiss is a 1997 film
1997 in film
-Events:* The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.* Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.* Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1,000,000,000 at the box office making it the highest grossing film in history until Avatar broke the record in 2010.*...

 directed by Philippe Rousselot
Philippe Rousselot
Philippe Rousselot is a French director of photography.Rousselot was born in Briey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. After having studied cinema at l'École Louis Lumière, he graduated in 1966 with, among others, François About, Eduardo Serra, Noël Very, and Jean-François Robin...

. It is a story about a Dutch garden architect named Meneer Chrome (Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...

) who has been hired by a wealthy metalworker (Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...

) to create an extravagant garden. The film also stars Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi is an Italian-Australian actor.-Early life:Scacchi was born Greta Gracco in Milan, Italy, on 18 February 1960, the daughter of Luca Scacchi Gracco, an Italian art dealer and painter, and Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and antiques dealer...

 and Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...

.

The film was entered into the 1997 Cannes Film Festival
1997 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Isabelle Adjani *Gong Li *Mira Sorvino *Paul Auster *Tim Burton *Luc Bondy *Patrick Dupond *Mike Leigh *Nanni Moretti *Michael Ondaatje -Feature film competition:...

.

Plot

Thomas Smithers (Postlethwaite), who has made his fortune in metalwork, hires Meneer Chrome (McGregor), a famous garden design
Garden design
Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise...

er, to create the most extravagant garden imaginable out of his wild property. However, Chrome has already been employed by Fitzmaurice (Grant), the cousin of Smithers' wife Juliana (Scacchi), for the purpose of bankrupting Smithers. Fitzmaurice's purpose in this is to take back Juliana as his lover, but she becomes attracted to Chrome, who is falling in love with Anna, the Smithers' mysterious daughter. Anna, however, is contemptuous of Chrome (and, indeed, of everyone she meets, filtering them and everything else around her through the poems of Andrew Marvell
Andrew Marvell
Andrew Marvell was an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman . As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert...

); her parents subject her to numerous "treatments," thinking her mentally unstable and wishing to cure her. These treatments cause Chrome to pity her, outbursting to the doctor at one point, "You're sick, she's not! Heal yourself
Physician, heal thyself
Physician, heal thyself is a proverb found in .The usual interpretation of this passage is that, during the Rejection of Jesus, Jesus expected to hear natives of his hometown of Nazareth use this phrase to criticize him....

!"

As the garden grows increasingly more complex and Smithers approaches bankruptcy, Fitzmaurice realizes that Chrome's affection for Anna is making him a liability; first he threatens to reveal Chrome's true identity to Smithers, then he plots to kill him by poisoning. Fitzmaurice's plan backfires, however, and he falls victim to his own poison. Juliana abandons her adulterous intentions, which her husband remains unaware of, and turns to support Smithers, who is bankrupt from his garden project obsession. Chrome, revealed to be the real Chrome's assistant, goes to the sea with Anna, where she throws away her book of poetry.

Cast

  • Ewan McGregor
    Ewan McGregor
    Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...

     as Meneer Chrome
  • Greta Scacchi
    Greta Scacchi
    Greta Scacchi is an Italian-Australian actor.-Early life:Scacchi was born Greta Gracco in Milan, Italy, on 18 February 1960, the daughter of Luca Scacchi Gracco, an Italian art dealer and painter, and Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and antiques dealer...

     as Juliana
  • Pete Postlethwaite
    Pete Postlethwaite
    Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...

     as Thomas Smithers
  • Richard E. Grant
    Richard E. Grant
    Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...

     as James Fitzmaurice
  • Carmen Chaplin
    Carmen Chaplin
    Carmen Chaplin is an actress, who belongs to the family of Charlie Chaplin.-Family:Carmen Chaplin is an English multicultural actress, director and writer....

     as Thea / Anna
  • Donal McCann
    Donal McCann
    Donal McCann was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, The Dead.-Early life:...

     as Physician
  • Charley Boorman
    Charley Boorman
    Charley Boorman is an English TV adventurer, travel writer and actor. He is well known for his association with motorcycles and enthusiasm for biking.-Education:...

     as Secretary
  • Gerard McSorley
    Gerard McSorley
    Gerard McSorley is a theatre, television and an Irish film actor.-Early life:He was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, and after attending a Christian Brothers school in his hometown he attended St. Columb's College in Derry. He then attended Queen's University, Belfast, where he was taught by among...

     as Mr. Galmoy
  • Britta Smith as Mrs. Galmoy
  • Susan Fitzgerald
    Susan FitzGerald
    Susan FitzGerald is an Irish actress, best known for her work in television and her work in Irish theatre. She also played the role of May in Samuel Beckett's Footfalls for the Gate Theatre's Beckett on Film project...

     as Mistress Clevely
  • Pat Laffan as Pritchard
  • Rúaidhrí Conroy
    Ruaidhri Conroy
    Rúaidhrí Conroy is an Irish actor.Conroy was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of actor Brendan Conroy. One of his first castings was as 'Tito' in the film Into the West, for which he won a Young Artist Award in the Outstanding Youth Actors in a Family Foreign Film category.In 1998, Conroy received...

     as Physician's Assistant
  • Henry King
    Henry King
    Henry King may refer to:* Henry King , English poet, Bishop of Chichester* Henry King , Member of Parliament for County Sligo* Henry King , U.S...

     as Lead Reaper

Locations

  • Part of the film was shot in the County Clare
    County Clare
    -History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...

     village of Sixmilebridge
    Sixmilebridge
    Sixmilebridge is a small town in County Clare, Ireland. Located midway between Ennis and Limerick city, the town is a short distance away from the main N18 road, being on the old "back road" between the two...

     in the Republic of Ireland
    Republic of Ireland
    Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

    .

Beginning of a Friendship

This film also marks the start of Charley Boorman
Charley Boorman
Charley Boorman is an English TV adventurer, travel writer and actor. He is well known for his association with motorcycles and enthusiasm for biking.-Education:...

 and Ewan McGregor's long running friendship that would eventually lead to their trip 'round the world: Long Way Round
Long Way Round
Long Way Round is a documentary television series, DVD set and book documenting the journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman from London to New York on motorcycles...

and is referenced in the documentary.
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