Rotten Tomatoes

Movies / TV

    Celebrity

      No Results Found

       View All       Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

      The Cement Garden

      1993 1 hr. 45 min. Drama List
      82% 11 Reviews Tomatometer 75% 1,000+ Ratings Audience Score Soon after the death of their father (Hanns Zischler), teen siblings Julie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Jack (Andrew Robertson) lose their ailing mother (Sinead Cusack), who's dying wish is to see the family remain together. Needing a source of income to keep the household running, Julie and Jack hide their mother's corpse, live off of her savings and care for their younger siblings themselves. However, the relationship between Julie and Jake soon begins to take a dark, sexual turn. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (95) audience reviews
      Cristina B A film slightly glamourising incest, not to sugar coat it. The horror of death contrasted with British 1980s suburbia is perfectly done, with lots of arty shots of cement and plants really driving home the nature vs. society theme. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/24/23 Full Review david f This is a slow and patient adaptation of a quirky novel about an unusual family. The acting, atmosphere, and story are all wonderful, and you are drawn into this odd family in the film just as you are in the novel. I think this is an exemplary adaptation of a work of literature. It really stays true to the novel and even builds on some of the ideas and themes and devices that were in the novel. An example: in the novel, Jack is given a novel by his sister Sue, "Voyage to Oblivion", and there are a few quotes and a plot summary that relate to Jack and his outlook. But in the movie there are much longer quotes from the Science Fiction pulp fiction novel which are an amusing satire on Science Fiction as well as being a novel-within-a-novel that can illuminate Jack, the reader and fan of the book. This is a great movie for the art house and it made a striking impression on me when I first saw it in the 1990s, put on by one of the local film societies like the Ann Arbor Film Cooperative or a similar group, I believe in Lorch Hall. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A good example of what works on the page not always working on screen. I found the whole film felt a little bit ridiculous and try-hard whereas the book it's based on is quite dark and atmospheric. Quite an unusual film though nevertheless. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member creepy & twisted dysfunctional family Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Julie: Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots, because it's OK to be a boy, but for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think that being a girl is degrading. But secretly you'd love to know what it's like, wouldn't you? What it feels like for a girl? Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review christopher l I originally was drawn to this flic because of Madonna's use of a unique scene as the intro to one of her songs "What it feels like for a girl". For a small indy film it had a huge impact. Minimal sets and lighting didn't detract from the story about a family that loses both parents and how they develop without them. Far from what one would expect, kids go wild refusing responsibility and falling into chaos, they pull together and do 'normal' as if nothing happened. Yet the two older siblings take charge and become closer, much closer, as would real parents without realizing how they came to be such. Weird, but it draws you in as much as a train wreck would a bystander. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

      More Like This

      View All Best Movies to Stream at Home
      85% 84% Rain 93% 90% Broken Wings 35% 40% The Intended 50% 66% The Safety of Objects 76% 63% Marion Bridge Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

      Photos

      View All The Cement Garden photos

      The Cement Garden

      The Cement Garden (1993) The Cement Garden (1993) The Cement Garden (1993) The Cement Garden (1993) View more photos

      Critics Reviews

      View All (11) Critics Reviews
      John Powers New York Magazine/Vulture A slow, queasy adaptation of Ian McEwan's brisk, queasy novel of the same title. Dec 31, 2019 Full Review Sheila Johnston Independent (UK) The four young actors, by whom it stands or falls, deliver impressively, in particular Robertson and Gainsbourg. Nov 14, 2017 Full Review James Berardinelli ReelViews Rated: 3.5/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Malcolm Johnson Hartford Courant it works much less compellingly than the novel, which goes out into the world - though the young actors reasonably approximate the characters in the book. Jun 6, 2018 Full Review Quentin Curtis Independent on Sunday Birkin, who wrote the film as well as directed it, has stuck close to the original -- the sort of spare, atmospheric novella that adapts well to the screen. Dec 7, 2017 Full Review Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com A very engaging drama based on Ian McEwan's novel. Rated: 4/5 Nov 7, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Soon after the death of their father (Hanns Zischler), teen siblings Julie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Jack (Andrew Robertson) lose their ailing mother (Sinead Cusack), who's dying wish is to see the family remain together. Needing a source of income to keep the household running, Julie and Jack hide their mother's corpse, live off of her savings and care for their younger siblings themselves. However, the relationship between Julie and Jake soon begins to take a dark, sexual turn.
      Director
      Andrew Birkin
      Screenwriter
      Andrew Birkin
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $23.4K