Main Cast: Ewan McGregor, Greta Scacchi, Pete Postlethwaite
Release Year: 1997
Country: UK/DE/FR
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
Haughty and vain British industrialist Thomas Smithers (Pete Postlethwaite) dearly loves his wife Juliana (Greta Sacchi). Since they only have a daughter (Carmen Chaplin), and a strange one at that, Smithers decides that rather than leaving his fortune to his wife and child, he will build a fabulous garden to honor Julianna, who unfortunately, cares little for such things. Hearing of Smithers's plans, Julianna's conniving cousin Fitzmaurice (Richard E. Grant), who has secretly wanted her for himself, suggests that Smithers hire hot young Dutch garden architect Meneer Chrome (Ewan McGregor) to do the work. Chrome's work does not come cheap, but that is fine with Fitzmaurice who is hoping that the project will bankrupt Smithers and cause Julianna to return to him. Unfortunately for Fitzmaurice, Julianna finds herself falling in love with Chrome. Unfortunately for Julianna, Chrome has fallen in love with her daughter Thea. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Charley Boorman; Ruaidhri Conroy; Susan Fitzgerald; Richard E. Grant - James Fitzmaurice; Pat Laffan; Donal McCann - The Doctor; Britta Smith; Gerard McSorley; Carmen Chaplin - Thea; Henry King
Credit
Chris Lowe - Art Director, Ros Hubbard - Casting, John Hubbard - Casting, Hans Brockmann - Co-producer, François Duplat - Co-producer, Tracey Seaward - Co-producer, Consolata Boyle - Costume Designer, Martin O'Malley - First Assistant Director, Philippe Rousselot - Director, Mick Audsley - Editor, Goran Bregovic - Composer (Music Score), Charles Garrad - Production Designer, Jean-François Robin - Cinematographer, Tim Rose Price - Producer, Robert Jones - Producer, John Battsek - Producer, Simon Willis - Sound/Sound Designer, Mick Boggis - Sound/Sound Designer, Peter Maxwell - Sound/Sound Designer, Tim Rose Price - Screenwriter, Nick Adams - Supervising Sound Editor
The Serpent's Kiss(French)Le Baiser du serpent, (German)Der Schlangenkuss) is a 1997 film directed by Philippe Rousselot. It is a story about a Dutch garden architect named Meneer Chrome (Ewan McGregor) who has been hired by a wealthy metalworker (Pete Postlethwaite) to create an extravagant garden. The film also stars Greta Scacchi and Richard E. Grant.
Thomas Smithers (Postlethwaite), who has made his fortune in metalwork, hires Meneer Chrome (McGregor), a famous garden designer, to create the most extravagant garden imaginable out of his wild property. However, Chrome has already been employed by Fitzmaurice (Grant), the cousin of Smithers' wife Juliana (Scacchi), for the purpose of bankrupting Smithers. Fitzmaurice's purpose in this is to take back Juliana as his lover, but she becomes attracted to Chrome, who is falling in love with Anne, the Smithers' mysterious daughter. Anne, however, is contemptuous of Chrome (and, indeed, of everyone she meets, filtering them and everything else around her through the poems of Andrew Marvell); her parents subject her to numerous "treatments," thinking her mentally unstable and wishing to cure her. These treatments cause Chrome to pity her, outbursting to the Puritan doctor at one point, "You're sick, she's not! Heal yourself!"
As the garden grows increasingly more complex and Smithers approaches bankruptcy, Fitzmaurice realizes that Chrome's affection for Anne is making him a liability; first he threatens to reveal Chrome's true identity to Smithers, then he plots to kill him by poisoning. Fitzmaurice's plan backfires, however, and he falls victim to his own poison. Juliana abandons her adulterous intentions, which her husband remains unaware of, and turns to support Smithers, who is bankrupt from his garden project obsession. Anne and Chrome, revealed to be Chrome's assistant, go to the sea together where Anne throws away her book of poetry.
This film also marks the start of Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor's long running friendship that would eventually lead to their trip 'round the world: Long Way Round and is referenced in the documentary.
