reviewed by Charity Bishop
     

If there is one thing the British love, it's a dark comedy. Keeping Mum is a film full of charming characters and wicked humor, but it also has some predominant flaws that prevent it from ever being truly enjoyable.

Rosemary Jones (Emilia Fox) is charming. Everyone who encounters her on the train making its way from one small country parish into the another finds her delightful. She is pretty, mild-mannered... and the extra-large trunk sitting in the baggage car with her name on it is leaking something that looks suspiciously like blood. When they pull into the station, the police are there to interrupt her enjoyment of a cup of tea. Inside the trunk are two dismembered bodies. Rosemary politely informs the police that they are her husband and his mistress, and that it was not at all appropriate for him to cheat on her. She complacently appears at her trial and is sentenced to imprisonment in a mental institution until the authorities determine she is no longer a threat to herself or others.

Many years later, in the tiny parish of Wallop, the Goodfellow family is going through a bit of a crisis. Walter (Rowan Atkinson), is so obsessed with being the finest vicar he can possibly be that he is ignoring his wife Gloria (Kristen Scott-Thomas). Her boredom has resulted in her not attending church (something the local busybodies frown on) and attempting without success to keep her promiscuous daughter Holly (Tamsin Egerton) in line. Then their is their youngest child, Petey (Tobey Parks). Extremely shy and constantly bullied at school, he likes to hide in corners and needs his mother to walk him across the playground to class each morning so that he won't run the risk of being shoved over the nearest fence. Gloria has recently taken up golfing lessons and her instructor, Lance (Patrick Swayze), has an immense interest in making her the latest notch on his bedpost. That is when Grace (Maggie Smith) comes into their lives. Answering an advertisement for a housekeeper, she enters the household and puts all to rights.

The dog next door stops its constant barking and goes missing. Then the neighbor who owns the dog takes a mysterious trip to Australia. Everyone is curious about Grace, but somehow she manages to make all their lives better. Undertaking the task of interesting the vicar in his wife romantically just might make Gloria less interested in Lance. There's not much to be done about Holly, but Petey can certainly be assisted in teaching those bullies a lesson. But inevitably the truth is going to catch up to everyone. The result is a dark comedy that isn't as funny as it would like to be but does have some classic moments -- such as Grace brandishing an iron skillet as she sneaks up behind someone, or making good use of household utensils in order to deal with a peeping tom (let's put it this way -- the blow didn't kill him, the hot iron would have left its mark). We never actually see her whack anyone (well, in the figurative sense) but the bodies do keep piling up. There is a twist midway through that everyone sees coming but it's fun watching them get there. The scene in which Holly and Gloria hide under the bed to get away from the crazy old lady in their house is fantastic. Especially when she finds them there and calmly invites them out.

The script does a good job of making us like Grace in spite of her psychotic tendencies -- part of us wants her to get away with it, because how can they all be a happy family if she's back in prison? In fact, if it weren't for some unsavory content I would say the movie is almost as charming as its murderer! There are some especially touching instances and wisdom present. Grace gives Petey the courage to stand up for himself and literally transforms his life. Her intervention prevents Gloria from cheating on her husband, and reminds the minister that his first responsibility is to his wife. True, at times she employs violence to make her point but with the reverend she knows enough about scripture to lead him to find the true answers. His faith is respected (even though his wife and daughter abuse the name of his Lord frequently) and there is a vivid contrast between the unattractiveness of lust (Gloria's budding relationship with Lance) and the true wonder of genuine love (Walter and Gloria). Alas, along for the ride is a decent amount of content that makes some portions of the movie uncomfortable.

Violence is a given but is never graphic -- we never find out what happened to the dog, and see two people smacked over the head. Dead bodies in tarps are dragged around and shown floating on the bottom of the local pond. Grace intentionally cuts the brake lines on some bullies' bikes, causing them to have a bad accident. More problematic is foul language and nudity -- the f-word and Jesus' name are both used about eight times each, along with other minor abuses of deity. Our first introduction to Holly is her "rocking" in the back of a van with one of her many boyfriends; her mother pulls the door open in indignation and we see her topless. Later, Lance sneaks up to the house and uses a camcorder to record her undressing and walking around topless in her room, accompanied with lustful comments. A portion of it is played back briefly. Lance includes an obscene amount of innuendo in his conversations with Gloria; once, they start making out passionately and start to undress. He removes his pants to show off thong underwear, which grosses Gloria out so much that she calls off their tryst. Grace reminds Walter that sex is in the Bible and seen as something glorious; she tells him to read the Song of Solomon. A voice-over repeats portions of it while he is reading and watching his wife prepare for bed. There's a brief scene of them together in the act, but it is handled with delicacy and respect.

The film is pitched as a sadistic twist on Mary Poppins and it's true: this housekeeper smiles, has a pot of tea at the ready in any situation, and certainly manages to accomplish an immense amount of "good" in the lives of the family that takes her in (casualties notwithstanding). But just as she has a problem with anyone who irritates her, I have a problem with how dirty some of the scenes made me feel. It's a shame the content isn't as charming as the protagonist.