Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89207 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-08-08
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
A bizarre and compelling story of family secrets based on the novel by Ian McEwan (who also wrote the novel upon which The Comfort of Strangers is based), this British film tells the complex tale of four children who conspire to hide their dead mother's body to avoid being split apart and sent to an orphanage. Their deception works for a while, as they become a self-sufficient family unit. Soon, however, mistrust and a deeply antagonistic relationship between the older siblings rife with sexual overtones, as well as a snooping suitor with designs on the older sister, threaten to destroy their well-constructed facade. Adapted and directed by Andrew Birkin, this offbeat film is disturbing but a riveting find for anyone interested in new discoveries from the world of international film. --Robert Lane

From The New Yorker
It wouldn't be surprising if the British Tourist Board tried to ban this movie; no one who sees it could ever want to go there again. The location scouts did their job all too well and found the most horrible house in England, a concrete cube in a rusty, sweltering wasteland. Inside, things aren't much better: the miserable teen-age Jack (Andrew Robertson) occasionally takes time off from masturbation to look after his ailing mother (Sinead Cusack). When she dies, he and his sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg) cover her in concrete and stash her in the cellar. Still to come: cross-dressing, poor personal hygiene, and a fistful of incest. Ian McEwan has adapted his own novel-still his most vicious and compact-and hardly changed a word, but the spirit has gone out of it. The director, Andrew Birkin, gives no energy to the dereliction, no kick of horror; the movie is drab and deadly from the first scene, and you can't have much reason to carry on watching. Birkin once made a haunting TV series, "The Lost Boys," about J. M. Barrie and the real children behind "Peter Pan"; this is stronger meat by any standards, but somehow less potent in its fantasies of youth. It's solemn, controlled, and oddly unshocking; the one big surprise is Gainsbourg's flawless British accent. Any chance of a remake by Paul Bartel? -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

incest is best
With "The Cement Garden," Andrew Birkin has created a spare, atmospheric and erotic cinematic adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel of the same name. This tale of grieving and incest is artfully shot and strangely compelling. A fateful attraction develops between Jack and Julie, the oldests of four siblings, following the death of their father and shortly thereafter of their mother. For fear that their younger brother and sister will have to go to an orphanage (in much the same vein as Jacques Fansten's "Cross My Heart"), the two bury their mother's body in a vat of cement in the cellar and proceed to take on their parents roles. While Sue, the youngest sister, deals with her pain through writing, and Tom (the younger brother, played by the director's son) begins dressing in girl's clothing, the tension between Jack and Julie builds toward an inevitable and highly anticipated climax. The film is slow-moving but hypnotic, and masterful in its poetic use of landscape. A few semi-significant inconsistencies aside, "The Cement Garden" succeeds in immersing you in its world. I especially enjoyed Charlotte Gainsbourg's performance as Julie.

I would give it 4 and 1/2 stars if I could.

Incest is fine, if its kept in the family:-)
I enjoyed the quality of the european acting.
I enjoyed the authentic scenery and the enviroment chosen for this film.
The the protagaonist is the oldest boy, well played and somewhat convincing in his pursuits.
Julie(Charlotte Gainsbourg), the oldest girl, role is done well and is very attractive, as necessary for this role.
The sibling conversations are authentic, reminding me of conversations I had with my large family.

The movie is shocking and tries hard to challenge what is left of social taboos.

What led me to watch this movie was hearing the voice of Gainsbourg, as Julie, respond to the oldest boy concerning knowing "what it feels like for a girl", in the title song of Madonna's current release.

This movie is not for the faint of heart.

The film itself is what really matters.
The DVD version was transferred from a tape rather than from a film print; tell by the image quality. There isn't much behind the scene stuff either besides a few slides of texts.
Still, I gave a 5 stars rating because not many films can pull off controversial topics like "The Cement Garden." I bought the DVD because I loved the film so, and that's all it matters.
For art film lovers, it might be worth collecting.