Review of The Cement Garden (1993) by Aidan H — 25 May 2010
Another failed attempt to transfer the novels of Iain M. Banks onto the big screen made worse by the unwatchable Gainsbourg and a spotty and hapless Robertson as the incestuous couple failing to play house.
Like walking through molasses in slo-mo, TCG takes an interminable time to build up any tension (enough with the shots of washing-up already!) and exists solely as B-grade art porno for those chattering classes brought up on the films of Charlotte Rampling.
It also fails to push any of the buttons normally reserved for films dealing with such disturbing topics: if you want us to recoil in horror, it's best not to give us so many shots of the schoolgirls knickers.
Conversely, if director Birkin wants us to sympathise with the characters, he shouldn't have made them into such spoilt and feckless twerps. Frustrating and pretentious.
This review of The Cement Garden (1993) was written by Aidan H on 25 May 2010.
The Cement Garden has generally received positive reviews.
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