The Cement Garden

Ian McEwan's disturbing novel is given a chilly shimmer in this film adaptation by Andrew Birkin. The film takes place in a concrete slab of a house situated on the outskirts of an English town. The father (Hanns Zischer) is a consumptive creep, while the mother (Sinead Cusack) is a sweet and ...more

"Keep it in the family" takes on a new meaning -- both onscreen and off -- in Andrew Birkin's disturbing Cement Garden. The film stars two members of Birkin's own family, including his son Ned Birkin and his niece Charlotte Gainsbourgh as siblings Jack and Julie. The lack of parental control forces a mutation in the roles of brother and sister, a mutation that becomes the main theme of the tale. The performances of all four leads leaves a sense of repression and secrecy that is hard to shake. By ...more