Incendiary (2008/I)

Director:

Sharon Maguire

Writers:

Chris Cleave (book)
Sharon Maguire (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 October 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The truth can blow you apart.

Plot:

An adulterous woman's life is torn apart when her husband and infant son are killed in a suicide bombing at a soccer match.

Plot Keywords:

Grief | Mother | Caravan | Suicide Bombing | Beach

Cast

Michelle Williams	...	Young Mother
Ewan McGregor	...	Jasper Black
Matthew Macfadyen	...	Terrence Butcher
Nicholas Gleaves	...	Lenny
Sidney Johnston	...	The Boy
Usman Khokhar	...	Bomber's Son
Sasha Behar	...	Bomber's Wife
Edward Hughes	...	Danny Walsh
Alibe Parsons	...	Pearl
Stewart Wright	...	Charlie
Al Ashton	...	Male Survivor (as Al Hunter Ashton)
Benjamin Wilkin	...	Young Policeman
Robin Berry	...	Dazed Supporter
Mercy Ojelade	...	Nurse Mena
Joe Marshall	...	Gary / VT Man

Also Known As:

Blown Apart (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for a strong sex scene and brief language.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:16 | Finland:K-13 | USA:R | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:R21

Filming Locations:

Camber Sands, Camber, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Aramid Entertainment Fund

Trivia:

Natalie Dormer filmed two days, playing the role of Ewan McGregor's girlfriend, but her role ended up on the cutting room floor. Nevertheless, she called it a "great experience".

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where her husband's boss is taking her to the memorial for the dead, her facial cuts are quite healed and well into the scarring stage. But a few minutes later in the scene where she's watching home movies, her facial cuts appear to be freshly scabbed over and quite irritated around the edges.

Quotes:

[first lines]
The Boy: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Go...
The Boy: Mommy you blinked, I won.
Young Mother: Yes you did. Now in you get. Tomorrow we're going to the sea-side.
Young Mother: [narration - boy running on the beach] So, if I'm going to show you my life, better start here. My boy, in Camber Sands. Why this and why now? I'll come back to that.
The Boy: Mommy!
Young Mother: [narration] A force of nature was what the midwife called him when he came howling into this world 4 years ago. And he hasn't stopped since.
The Boy: Mommy!
Young Mother: [narration] Me and him spend a lot of time together on account his dad is a right miserable bugger. To be fair, he wasn't always miserable. Or maybe he was and I just didn't see it. I wouldn't be the first one in my family to have her nickers charmed off her by some fellow in the Army. Any way, for better or worse, I got my boy and he got me.
The Boy: [dangling a sand worm] Mommy! Mommy!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Features "Top Gear" (1978)

Cod Mockney Melodrama

This cod mockney melodrama from the director of Bridget Jones Diary fails at every level. It's clearly a film involving working class characters made by middle class people with both characters and plot lacking any authenticity and credibility whatsoever. In fact, the basic premise of Bridget Jones is transposed to this disastrous attempt at making a serious drama. Instead of writing a diary she writes letters to Osama Bin Laden. Instead of getting caught in a love triangle between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant she gets caught in a love triangle with two equally wet englishmen, uncomfortably played by Ewan MacGregor and Matthew Macfadayen, and all this, after her poor husband and son have been blown to bits in an unconvincing attack on Arsenal football stadium whilst she was shagging the local taloid newspaper reporter! The mawkish sentimentality that ensues is unbearable. In a preposterous celebration of London's blitz spirit, the faces of the victims are printed on the side of WWII air balloons which float above the city in every shot. And Michelle Williams, who miraculously found her sons toy rabbit in the ruins of the football stadium, clutches it to her chest in almost every scene. I find it hard to believe that this ill conceived script ever made it past treatment stage, particularly when so many established UK film companies like CH4 were involved in its development and finance. I find it equally hard to believe that the film was selected to screen at prestigious festivals like Sundance.This film is a worrying indictment of the failings of a the British film industry.