Brimstone and Treacle [DVD]

A disturbing, but at times touching movie about the life of a woman who's devoted to caring for her brain damaged daughter who was the victim of a hit and run accident.

Joan Plowright plays the woman in question, whose life has become the monotony of caring for her daughter without any assistance, and with little results and no happiness or reward for herself. As a consequence, she 'succumbs' like a helpless butterfly within a net, to the charms of a clever and handsome young con man who enters her life in the guise of her disabled daughter's one-time boyfriend. The husband (played by the late great Denholm Elliott) appears to see through this, but has no luck in convincing his wife of the young man's real intentions of whiling his way into their home - perhaps only due to the sheer desperation of the mother needing such a 'knight in shining armour' to rescue her from her bleak and colourless life - at whatever the cost to others.

Sometimes the devil - others an angel in disguise, 'Martin' (played marvellously by the charismatic 'Sting' - lead vocalist of the pop group 'The Police') is still capable of creating some of the most heart-rending and touching scenes between he and the mother.

NOTE: My copy (unsure about this one) has not been re-mastered and the quality is not good in places - almost as bad as an old Video Tape copy. Movie appears even older than its twenty-seven years.

I know nothing about the play, so I am not comparing it in that way, but I did see echoes of Orton in this - Sloane reminded me of Stings version of Martin (though of course Sloane was about arrogant sexuality as well as being a bad lot, and Martin is obsequious whilst being about the baddest lot there is). Sting appears to be taking cues from Malcolm McDowell as well, reminding me of when 'little Alex' was pretending to be a good boy. I haven't seen the Michael Kitchen version, so I do not know how Sting, not an actor, compares, but I don't think he is too bad.

I do not agree with another review that this is a disaster - I feel that it is atmospheric, well acted (that poor actress playing the daughter!) and strongly evocative of corruption and moral rottenness - Martin is clearly diabolic, I actually feel that this is rather overdone. He hangs around looking for suitably troubled people and finds his latest target, more troubled than most - sexually repressed and frustrated, guilt ridden due to his daughters disability, and his long suffering wife is a devout Christian. Their adult daughter is completely dependent and it appears that her mother does all the care and the housework. There are enough tensions in this marriage for Martin to work his 'charm': introducing even further conflict obliquely.

POSSIBLE PLOT SPOILER

For me the best and worst aspect of the film is the 'miracle' that Martin inadvertently (or is it) performs as a result of the rape. Through an act of evil someone is saved, though not without further cost. But for the more literal minded (I remember a conversation at the time of release) it is distressing to see an act of violence as a cure for disability, particularly in the context of young disabled women being extremely vulnerable to sexual abuse. One has to remember this is NOT a film about disability.

The movie itself is brilliant and features Sting in a diabolic role that fits him very well. Accompagnied by the music of The Police, Sting himself and the GoGo's, this is a real masterpiece. However, I was personally dissappointed in this new edition as it did not feature any extras. I expected at least the video that was made for the song Spread a little happiness. None of that. Also the transfer from the original master tape is very rudimentary and lacked a decent remastering resulting in a lot of fuzzy and unclear dark fragments and the typical JPG squares appearing in the background. Nevertheless, the film is brilliant and combined with an attractive pricesetting, this is definitely a "want to have it" for every decent The Police or Sting fan.