IMDb RATING
6.1/10
29K
YOUR RATING
At Oxford University, a professor and a grad student work together to try to stop a potential series of murders seemingly linked by mathematical symbols.At Oxford University, a professor and a grad student work together to try to stop a potential series of murders seemingly linked by mathematical symbols.At Oxford University, a professor and a grad student work together to try to stop a potential series of murders seemingly linked by mathematical symbols.
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
29K
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writers
- Álex de la Iglesia(screenplay)
- Jorge Guerricaechevarría(screenplay)
- Guillermo Martínez(novel "Crímenes imperceptibles")
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writers
- Álex de la Iglesia(screenplay)
- Jorge Guerricaechevarría(screenplay)
- Guillermo Martínez(novel "Crímenes imperceptibles")
- Stars
- Awards
- 6 wins & 5 nominations
Videos1
- Director
- Writers
- Álex de la Iglesia(screenplay)
- Jorge Guerricaechevarría(screenplay)
- Guillermo Martínez(novel "Crímenes imperceptibles")
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
Martin (Elijah Wood), a PhD student in mathematics, enrolls at Oxford in the hope of meeting his mentor, Professor Arthur Seldom (Sir John Hurt). The young man manages to find lodging at Mrs. Eagleton's (Anna Massey's), but in this house, a stifling atmosphere prevails due to the landlady's attitude. Indeed Mrs. Eagleton, who happens to be a friend of Seldom's, is a haughty and unsympathetic woman who also stifles her daughter Beth (Julie Cox). At the university, things do not fare much better as Martin is put in his place by his idol during one of Seldom's lectures. But his private life changes for the best as he starts an affair with Lorna (Leonor Watling), a beautiful girl he met during a game of squash. One night, Seldom and Martin, who find themselves at Mrs. Eagleton's, discover her dead body. They are interrogated by the Police. Soon afterwards, they decide to lead their own private investigation. —Guy Bellinger
- Genres
- Certificate
- K-13
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaSir Michael Caine was approached by Writer, Producer, and Director Álex de la Iglesia to play the lead role. Jeremy Irons was also considered for this part that, ultimately, went to Sir John Hurt.
- Goofs(at around 14 mins) In the classroom scene, Martin announces that he believes in the number pi, and explains that by this he means the golden section, related to the Fibonacci sequence. The goof is that this number is universally referred to as phi, not pi, which is reserved for the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.
- Quotes
Arthur Seldom: The only perfect crime that exists is not the one that remains unsolved, but the one which is solved with the wrong culprit
- Crazy creditsThe background to the credits sequence is a representation of a blackboard full of equations and mathematical formulae.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Teen Wolf: The Tell (2011)
- SoundtracksThe King of Denmark's Galiard
Written by John Dowland (uncredited)
Performed by The Forge Players featuring Freddie Wadling
Courtesy of Warner Music
Top review
It mistakenly focuses on the poorly built love entanglements
This film is about a mathematics professor and a graduate student trying to solve murders that are connected by a mysterious code series.
"The Oxford Murders" spends too much time elaborating and dragging on the relationships between Martin, Arthur Seldom, Beth and Lorna. It gives me the impression that the filmmakers ran out of ideas on riddles and puzzles, hence made up a series of love and jealousy scenes to fill up the screen time. As a result, the first 70 minutes of the film mistakenly focuses on the poorly built love entanglements, which is rather plain and boring.
The next 20 minutes starts to be interesting as the riddle is full on, but it is too hard to follow. Only the ending twist captivated me, but that lasts for 5 minutes only.
If the riddles can be more evenly spaced and better presented, "The Oxford Murders" could have been a great mystery film. It could have been captivating as a simplified version of "Da Vinci Code", but unfortunately it failed.
"The Oxford Murders" spends too much time elaborating and dragging on the relationships between Martin, Arthur Seldom, Beth and Lorna. It gives me the impression that the filmmakers ran out of ideas on riddles and puzzles, hence made up a series of love and jealousy scenes to fill up the screen time. As a result, the first 70 minutes of the film mistakenly focuses on the poorly built love entanglements, which is rather plain and boring.
The next 20 minutes starts to be interesting as the riddle is full on, but it is too hard to follow. Only the ending twist captivated me, but that lasts for 5 minutes only.
If the riddles can be more evenly spaced and better presented, "The Oxford Murders" could have been a great mystery film. It could have been captivating as a simplified version of "Da Vinci Code", but unfortunately it failed.
helpful•1723
- Gordon-11
- May 24, 2008
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,803
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,191
- Aug 8, 2010
- Gross worldwide
- $17,646,627
- Runtime
- 1h 48min
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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