How Did They Ever Make A Movie Of "The Cement Garden"?

December 25, 2024 6:00 AM

In an Ian McEwan story nothing is quite as it seems, and many of the characters have a perfectly amoral willingness to break society’s rules. That is the case here. The Cement Garden is not a pleasant film, nor is there any reassurance at the end – no promise that all will eventually be well. It’s more of a seduction, like the events of the plot. It leads us into a world where some secrets are hidden and others indulged, and there is no restraint on its dark impulses. - Roger Ebert *

The Cement Garden is The Lord of the Flies in minutiae, children free from the shackles of adults, acting as adults before their socialisation is complete. Like Great Britain in the late 70s when Ian McEwan’s novel is set, the family is decrepit, slowly dying out. Like Great Britain in the early 90s when the film was made, the family is beset by Tory sleaze, outstaying their welcome in that sun-kissed mausoleum. - Mark Farnsworth*

posted by Lemkin (10 comments total)

Because Christmas should be about family.
posted by Lemkin at 6:01 AM on December 25 [8 favorites]

"Julie, he's your brother!" has been part of my internal lexicon since I saw that Very Disturbing Film at the Angelika with my film studies friend back in collee.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:29 AM on December 25 [2 favorites]

I'll wait for the musical
posted by Czjewel at 9:03 AM on December 25 [3 favorites]

I caught this movie on cable in the mid-90s and could never find it again. I remember putting this on my Netflix queue back around 2000 or so. It swiftly got moved to that "we don't have that disc anymore and probably never will" queue of disappointment. Thank you for finding it!
posted by LindsayIrene at 9:04 AM on December 25 [3 favorites]

I didn't find this film to be shocking because I think the use of child actors who hadn't developed range yet resulted in a very nonchalant delivery of actual disturbing material. Compare to The Blue Lagoon, with children acting out adult themes of similar magnitude, yet one is cornball and the other is soul crushing. Charlotte G never really did develop a range, which made her perfect for Lars Von Trier's double-feature.
posted by peter.j.torelli at 10:11 AM on December 25 [2 favorites]

For the record: Gainsbourg was 22 playing 17 and the actor cast as the brother was 19 playing 15.

Had the director used actors of the correct ages, it would have been a different experience - though whether for better or worse (whatever those terms mean in this context), I’m not sure.
posted by Lemkin at 10:21 AM on December 25 [1 favorite]

Hey Lemkin, any reason you're not posting to FanFare? Just curious, either way I'm glad you shared Cement Garden
posted by ginger.beef at 3:52 PM on December 25 [1 favorite]

Just let me get a cup of coffee before I sit down to watch this.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:58 PM on December 25 [1 favorite]

I'd love to say that this was Flowers in the Attic for the art-house crowd, but I never read nor watched FitA, so I can't. I did watch this movie, around the time it came out, and it just didn't make that big of an impression on me; it neither romanticized children being left to fend for themselves by abusive or neglectful parents nor was as sad as numerous real-life cases that I've read or heard about. I watched a few bits of the movie from the link above and don't feel tempted to revisit it.

Charlotte G never really did develop a range, which made her perfect for Lars Von Trier's double-feature.

Compared to the subject of this post, Nymphomaniac did leave a big impression on me, although the net result of that was to make me want to never waste another minute on anything that von Trier does or did, ever again.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:22 PM on December 26

The ads.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:48 AM on December 27