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 Wallopi, 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 frequently picks up a new boyfriend 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 their son 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) raucous dog 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 he is aware of is the algae in the garden pond.) She 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. Next is the killing of the golf instructor, when she sees him videotaping Holly undressing from outside the house. Around the same time, Walter leaves for a Biblical convention.
However, she soon gets found out, when Gloria and Holly see her picture on the television (a news article mentions her release and previous offences). It is then that Grace reveals that she is actually 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 Mrs. Parker comes over to discuss the problem of the church flower arranging committee, Grace attempts to hit her over the head with a frying pan, but is prevented by Gloria (Grace being under the impression that Mrs. Parker was about to turn them in). The neighbour, shocked by the murder attempt, promptly has a heart attack and dies, with Walter (unaware of her death yet, having returned from the convention just after it occurred) muttering: "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 pumped dry. Gloria is worried as she knows that Grace disposed of her victims in the pond. An underwater shot ending the film shows us that Bob and Ted have joined them in the pond, giving the impression that Gloria and Holly are now following in Grace's footsteps by killing troublemakers too.
Cast
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.
External links
