Beauty (2011)

Portrait of a closeted gay husband/father living a life of quiet middle-aged desperation who becomes fixated on a friend's handsome collegiate son, leading to an incident.

Director:

Oliver Hermanus

Writers:

Didier Costet, Oliver Hermanus

Stars:

Deon Lotz, Charlie Keegan, Michelle Scott

5 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Deon Lotz	...	François van Heerden
Charlie Keegan	...	Christian Roodt
Michelle Scott	...	Elena van Heerden
Albert Maritz	...	Willem Roodt
Sue Diepeveen	...	Marika Roodt
Roeline Daneel	...	Anika van Heerden
Drikus Volschenk	...	Cliff Engel
Morné Visser	...	Brian
Leon Kruger	...	Henri
Robin Smith	...	Gideon
Jeroen Kranenburg	...	Doctor
Tinarie van Wyk Loots	...	Linda van Heerden
Jan Hendrik Opperman	...	Stefan - Groom
Marion Holm	...	Distant Aunt
Shaun Rossouw	...	Best Man

Storyline

Tells the story of Francois van Heerden, a mid-40s, white, Afrikaans-speaking family man living in Bloemfontein, who has become devoid of any care or concern for his own measure of happiness, so convinced of his ill-fated existence, that he is wholly unprepared when a chance encounter unravels his clean, controlled life.

---

Plot Keywords:

latent homosexuality | male rape | oral sex | age discordant relation | hairy chest | 

---

Taglines:

Love. Envy. Obsession.

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

South Africa's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012.

---

Soundtracks

Georgette
Written & Arranged by Ben Ludik
Written by Penelope Youngleson
Produced by Ben Ludik

User Reviews

A film of merit, but beware the "uncle"/"nephew" thing

There seems to be a misapprehension about this movie and is key to understanding it. Francois is not in fact a blood uncle. In the opening wedding scene Christian says something ( I can't remember his actual words) which establish that. The opening scene shows Francois transfixed by a vision of a young man known to him last as a boy before the two families lost touch. If he were a REAL uncle, how likely is it that he doesn't already know what he looks like? This changes the whole dynamic of the movie and makes his actions at the later beach scene easier to understand. This movie is very good, but not an easy watch, but I feel that viewers need to know the above, (a point which even a few commercial reviewers got wrong) in order to appreciate its merits.

Details

Official Sites:

Official distributor's page for the film. [Australia] Official distributor's page for the film. [Belgium]

Country:

South Africa France Germany

Language:

Afrikaans English

Release Date:

5 October 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beauty

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$50,425

Company Credits

Production Co:

Swift Productions, Équation, Moonlighting Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1