The grotesque
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The grotesque |
| Original title | The grotesque |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1995 |
| length | 99 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John-Paul Davidson |
| script | Patrick McGrath |
| production | Trudie Styler |
| music | Anne Dudley |
| camera | Andrew Dunn |
| cut | Tariq Anwar |
| occupation | |
| |
The Grotesque is a British comedy film from 1995. The literary model was the novel of the same name (1988) by Patrick McGrath , who also wrote the screenplay. The film was shown on German television under the title Butler morden leiser .
action
England 1949: Sir Hugo Coal is a passionate paleontologist who reconstructs dinosaur skeletons in his barn . His wife Harriet has felt neglected by him for a long time, especially since her husband, when he's not studying bones, prefers to hang out with his butcher George Lecky, with whom he once made friends in Africa . When Sir Hugo is having coffee with Harriet and their daughter Cleo in his country house, his new butler Fledge arrives. His wife Doris is also hired as a housemaid and cook by the Coals.
One afternoon Cleo introduces her parents to the destitute poet Sidney Giblet. She wants to marry him and is ready to give up her studies at Oxford for him . But Sir Hugo, who is worried about his daughter's financial future, is not ready to give the union his blessing. While he presents his new theory to the Royal Society that the dinosaurs were not reptiles but birds, Sidney observes Harriet and Fledge kissing in the slaughterhouse. When Sir Hugo takes a bath the following evening, Fledge tells him that Sidney is more inclined to her own sex. Fledge later meets Sidney, who tells him that he has caught him with Harriet. Fledge instantly presses him against a wall and begins kissing him. At dawn the two men sit half-naked and hug each other. Sir Hugo sees her through a window and feels confirmed in his bad impression of Sidney. Sidney then leaves the property with Cleo's bike. Because he didn't come back and didn't let her know, Cleo begins to worry. She is convinced that Fledge has something to do with Sidney's sudden disappearance.
After Inspector Limp, Sidney's mother Mrs. Giblet and her companion Lavinia Freebody arrive at the Coals. Mrs. Giblet believes Sir Hugo may have done something to her son and asks Fledge to keep her eyes open for her. At a dinner to which several other guests are invited, Cleo is exasperated that everyone around her is enjoying the food that Doris has prepared to the fullest and pretending that everything is fine when Sidney is still not reappeared. After dreaming again and again that Sidney looks for her with her throat cut, Cleo conjectures to her father that Fledge killed Sidney. Sidney's bones are eventually found in a nearby swamp. It turns out that Sidney's body had been slaughtered and then fed to pigs. George, suspected of being a butcher, flees the police and hides in Sir Hugo's barn. There he tells his friend that his mentally disadvantaged brother John saw a man dig a hole one night. He noticed John and then disappeared. John found Sidney's body in a sack and then slaughtered it. George, in turn, gave the meat to the pigs. Inspector Limp and his men finally arrest George.
While Fledge is behaving more and more like the landlord - Harriet has already let him in her bed and has him wear Sir Hugo's suits - Cleo searches for clues that could incriminate Fledge. In a drawer, she finds several newspaper articles that report mysterious murders that always involved a butler. In court it turns out that the pigs fed with Sidney's remains were eaten by the Coals and their guests. When Fledge tells Sir Hugo that they have hired a new butcher, Sir Hugo attacks his butler. This pushes Sir Hugo to the ground, whereupon the palaeontologist injures his head and falls into a vegetative state . Sir Hugo returns home after a stay in the hospital. From now on he sits in a wheelchair and cannot speak. Meanwhile, George is found guilty and hanged. Cleo then studies a book about toads in her father's barn. Herbert, her father's toad, takes poisonous mucus, which in sufficient doses can lead to death in a person. She smears the viscous substance into a tobacco pipe that Fledge always smokes, and watches through a window as the butler tries to light the pipe. However, Fledge puts the pipe aside and begins to dance with Harriet. Sir Hugo is also in the room, but his wheelchair is turned towards the window so he cannot see Fledge and Harriet kissing. Instead, he sees George in front of the window, who signals him to follow him and a camel. Sir Hugo then closes his eyes and dies. Meanwhile, Fledge and Harriet have disappeared. The pipe is also no longer where it was, and Toad Herbert winks at the camera.
background
Sting , who had previously acted in several films, can be seen alongside his wife Trudie Styler , who also plays his wife in the film and also worked as a producer. Maria Aitken , the wife of author Patrick McGrath , played a supporting role.
The shooting took place in Norfolk . The costumes were designed by multiple Oscar winner Colleen Atwood and Graham Churchyard .
The Grotesque premiered on September 9, 1995 at the Toronto International Film Festival . The film opened in British cinemas on June 14, 1996. In Germany it was first published on September 6, 1996 on VHS.
Reviews
For the lexicon of international film , the film was “a strange mixture of the grotesque, pitch-black comedy and crime game, which offers varied entertainment for fans of black humor thanks to excellent actors, detailed equipment and clever camera work”. According to Prisma , John-Paul Davidson “staged the story in his feature film debut with a wink and with finesse”. The film is therefore "a successful example of British cinema of the Thatcher years".
German version
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Sir Hugo Coal | Alan Bates | Jürgen Thormann |
| Fledge | Sting | Lutz Mackensy |
| George Lecky | Jim Carter | Klaus Sunshine |
| Edward Cleghorn | John Mills | Peter Schiff |
| Hubert Cleggie | Nick Lucas | Hermann Ebeling |
| Sir Edward Tome | Edward Jewesbury | Friedrich G. Beckhaus |
| Sir Humphrey Stoker | David Killick | Hans-Werner Bussinger |
| Dr. Walter Dendrite | Michael Cronin | Klaus Jepsen |
Web links
- The Grotesque in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Grotesque. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ cf. prisma.de
- ↑ The Grotesque. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .