16 September 2008

The Hanging Garden (1997)


25-year-old Sweet William (Chris Leavins) returns to his parents' house after ten years of absence to attend the wedding of his sister Rosemary (Kerry Fox). He used to be an obese in his teens (as played by Troy Veinotte) and was once caught having sex with his hunky bisexual friend Fletcher (Joel S. Keller) in the garden by his grandmother when he was 15 and that same friend is the man marrying his sister. As a consequence of the ensuing rejection, particularly by his father (Peter MacNeill), Sweet William had the choice of either running away to live in a big city far away from the family or committing suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the garden. In the movie, both the alive, now slender and self-assured Sweet William and the obese, suffocated teenage Sweet William, hanging as a fresh corpse in the garden, are present and interacting. In the version of reality where Sweet William dies, his family members cannot shed their memories of his death and carry on with their lives, whereas in the other version Sweet William is haunted by memories of his father's misbehavior and is unable to reconcile with him. As well, a new family member, Violet (Christine Dunsworth) is subsequently revealed to have been fathered by Sweet William, from an incident when Sweet William's mother (Seana McKenna) took him to a prostitute in an attempt to “cure” his homosexuality.

THE HANGING GARDEN is a stimulating mature film that will challenge the minds of its viewers. This great offer from Canada has a story plot so original and the whole ensemble of cast so terrific that it won accolades and awards in different film award bodies. A MUST-SEE to my books!

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