The Cement Garden (1993)

After the death of her husband, the mother of Julie, Jack, Sue and Tom begins to suffer from a mysterious illness. Aware that she is going to have to go into hospital she opens a bank ... See full summary »

Director:

Andrew Birkin

Writers:

Andrew Birkin, Ian McEwan (novel)

Stars:

Andrew Robertson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alice Coulthard

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Andrew Robertson	...	Jack
Charlotte Gainsbourg	...	Julie
Alice Coulthard	...	Sue
Ned Birkin	...	Tom
Sinéad Cusack	...	Mother
Hanns Zischler	...	Father
Jochen Horst	...	Derek, Julie's Friend
Gareth Brown	...	William
William Hootkins	...	Commander Hunt (voice)
Dick Flockhart	...	Truck Driver
Mike Clark	...	Driver's Mate

Storyline

After the death of her husband, the mother of Julie, Jack, Sue and Tom begins to suffer from a mysterious illness. Aware that she is going to have to go into hospital she opens a bank account for the children, so that they can be financially self-sufficient and will be able to avoid being taken into care by the authorities. Unfortunately she also dies and Julie and Jack (the older, teenage children) decide to hide her body in the basement so that they can have free reign of their household. Soon Tom has taken to dressing as a girl whilst Sue has become increasingly reticent, confiding only to her diary, meanwhile Jack and Julie sense an attraction developing for each other. However Julie's new beau, Derek, threatens to unearth the many dark secrets within this family as he becomes increasingly suspicious of Jack.

---

Plot Keywords:

diary | basement | illness | secret | pantyhose | 

---

Taglines:

Love knows no limits.

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France Germany UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 February 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

A cementkert

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Gross:

$322,975 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Laurentic Film Productions, Neue Constantin Film, Torii Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A quote from the film (as spoken by Gainsbourg) is featured in the introduction to the 2001 Madonna song "What It Feels Like for a Girl".

---

Goofs

When Jack brings in the tray to his mum, when she's in her room, he draws back the curtains to let some light in. However, the light obviously comes not from outside, but from a source of light somewhere above (not visible).

---

Quotes

Julie: Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots, because it's OK to be a boy, but for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think that being a girl is degrading. But secretly you'd love to know what it's like, wouldn't you? What it feels like for a girl?

---

Connections

Referenced in Siskel & Ebert: Episode dated 13 April 1996 (1996)

---

Soundtracks

"Our Weakening Lives"
The Color
(Ben Catford & Jeff Wilcox)
Recorded in 1989

User Reviews

Put mom in a can and share the bed with siblings

I like Ian McEwans writings, especially his early short stories, and this is a generous contribution to the haunting quality of his work (much better than Comfort of Strangers or A Good Son). Charlotte Gainsbourg is wonderful as the impish sister and Andrew Robertson does very well hiding behind his shag cut and masturbating in his private bunker. Camera work is wonderful in a fantastic location in middle of English dump sites with broken houses and bricks. Film´s strength rests not on incest but on superbly explicating a child´s value that it places on it´s family over the rest of the world. Reminds me of long ago isolated family vacations fighting and playing with siblings and forgetting everyone else, just stuck in time. Ignore the poor shock value trailer (``...but he is your brother!´´´) and dip your head into this haunting world of adolescence. Very sad and beautiful. Don´t see with siblings or Mom, I did (an uncomfortable mistake).