Keeping Mum
| Keeping Mum | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Niall Johnson |
| Written by | Niall Johnson Richard Russo |
| Produced by | Julia Palau Matthew Payne |
| Starring | Rowan Atkinson Maggie Smith Kristin Scott Thomas Tamsin Egerton Patrick Swayze Emilia Fox |
Release dates | United Kingdom 2 December 2005 Australia 26 January 2006 United States 15 September 2006 (limited) |
Running time | 103 min |
| Language | English |
Keeping Mum is a 2005 British black comedy film starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze.
Plot
In the opening scene, as pregnant young Rosie Jones (Emilia Fox) rides on a train, her very large trunk starts leaking blood. When questioned by the police, she calmly reveals that the two dismembered bodies inside are of her unfaithful husband and his mistress. She is then sentenced by the judge (Roger Hammond) to a secure unit for the criminally insane for manslaughter.
Forty-three years later, in the village of Little Wallop, Walter Goodfellow, the vicar (Rowan Atkinson) is very busy writing the perfect sermon for a conference, having no idea about the problems in his house, which include the unfulfilled sexual needs of his wife Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas) who subsequently starts an affair with her golf instructor, Lance (Patrick Swayze); the rebellious nature of his daughter Holly (Tamsin Egerton) who constantly picks up new boyfriends; and son Petey (Toby Parkes) who is bullied by schoolmates, led by Billy Martin. Then everything changes with the arrival of the new housekeeper Grace (Maggie Smith).
Walter and Gloria first meet her when they fail to fetch Petey from school and see him strolling with her. Gloria becomes very angry, thinking that Grace is trying to kidnap him and is appeased only when the latter identifies herself by showing an envelope with her name on it. Grace is installed into their lives, and learns about some of the problems in the house — Clarence, the neighbour's (Mr. Brown's) nuisance-barking Jack Russell terrier, who disturbs Gloria's sleep; the boys who bully Petey; and the golf instructor with whom Gloria is having an affair. Walter does not know anything about any of this - the only problem of which he is the toxic blue-green algae in the garden pond. Grace resolves to solve these problems in her own way. She first kills the dog, Clarence, and when his owner finds out that his dog has been killed, she kills him, too. She sabotages the bicycles of the bullies, injuring one of them and making Petey very happy. She catches the golf instructor outside the house one night, videotaping Holly undressing, and clobbers him with an iron. Around the same time, Walter leaves for a Biblical convention.
However, Grace is discovered when Gloria and Holly see her picture on the television in a news item mentioning her release and previous offences. It is then that Grace reveals that she is Gloria's long-lost mother, Rosie Jones, explaining why she came to Little Wallop in the first place. Gloria attempts to teach Grace that when having a problem with someone, one cannot just kill them but is baffled when Grace says that that is the one thing she and her doctors could never agree on, implying that Grace's condition is beyond treatment. Despite their disagreements, Gloria tries to help Grace remove Lance's body, but cannot face up to it. Over a cup of tea, the three women decide not to tell Walter or Peter any of what has happened.
But all is not over. When nagging congregant Mrs. Parker comes over to discuss the problem of the church flower arranging committee, Grace, under the impression that Mrs. Parker is about to turn them in, attempts to hit her over the head with a frying pan, but is prevented by Gloria. Mrs. Parker, shocked by the murder attempt, has a heart attack and dies. Walter, having just returned from the convention and unaware that she is already dead mutters: "Oh, that flower arranging committee. It'll be the death of her." Soon after this, Grace leaves the family when order seems to be restored among them.
At the end of the film, Walter is talking to Bob and Ted, the water works employees, about the pond at the Vicar's house. They say that there is too much algae and the pond needs to be drained. Gloria knows that Grace disposed of her victims in the pond. Gloria, with a disturbingly cheerful expression, offers the two men some tea, and the film closes with an underwater shot depicting the bodies of Bob and Ted in the pond.
Cast
- Rowan Atkinson as Reverend Walter Goodfellow
- Kristin Scott Thomas as Gloria Goodfellow
- Maggie Smith as "Grace Hawkins"
- Patrick Swayze as Lance
- Tamsin Egerton as Holly Goodfellow
- Toby Parkes as Petey Goodfellow
- Liz Smith as Mrs. Parker
- Emilia Fox as Rosie Jones
- James Booth as Mr. Brown — the movie was dedicated to Booth, who died the year it was released.
- Patrick Monckton as Bob
- Rowley Irlam as Ted
- Vivienne Moore as Mrs. Martin
Tagline
- They took her in. Now she's taking them out.
- Some family secrets are best kept...buried.
Filming
The main filming location was in the village of St Michael Penkivel in Cornwall.