Keeping Mum

A black comedy set in an English village. Walter is the vicar. Nobody listens to his sermons, the congregation sleeps while he speaks, and he has not noticed. Gloria is his wife. She has not been able to talk properly to her husband for years and is about to start an affair with the golf instructor. Their daughter Holly is having her youth. Their son Petey is beaten at school and tells nobody. A housekeeper arrives. Grace is old, calm, cooks very well, and takes charge from the first day. From there the film is a story of things being sorted out. Grace solves everyone's problem separately. Her method is strange. A barking dog goes quiet, noisy neighbours disappear, and the boys who beat her boy are not seen again. The family becomes happy and nobody asks why. What the narrative is interested in is not murder but complicity: the film shows the family working it out at some point and choosing to stay quiet because it suits them. Who Grace is comes out early. The narrative does not keep it as a surprise and takes its tension from when the others will notice. The humour is English. The jokes are delivered softly and with a smile; no violence is shown. Walter's sermon line is the best part. He is to speak at a conference and Grace teaches him what to say. Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze are in the cast. Niall Johnson directed and co-wrote. Who it is for: anyone who likes quiet English black comedy. Who it is not for: anyone expecting something sharp; the narrative never strikes its target hard and the ending ties everything too easily.