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.

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Plot Keywords:

diary | basement | illness | secret | pantyhose | 

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Taglines:

Love knows no limits.

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Genres:

Drama

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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".

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Goofs

After Jack stops tickling Julie, she is sitting up, then sits up again.

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Quotes

Commander Hunt: There is nothing ugly, I never saw an ugly thing in my life, for let the shape of an object be as they may: light, shade and perspective will always make it beautiful.

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Connections

Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #10.2 (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Saturday Sad"
Mono Pacific
(Martin G. Jowers)

User Reviews

A piece of art

Simply a piece of art. More than this: a magnific, dark and lonely piece of art in the middle of a desert. The cement is hard and hide things that must to be hide. In this film the past time is erased, digged in the deep under 10 feets of cement. One of the characters says (in the final of the movie) - You are sick!-, but he don't know that the sick was himself.

10/10 - So far the best cinema

Thanks for your art, Andrew Birkin