Afternoon. Home. Sheffield.
Watched on 4K Blu-ray (Vinegar Syndrome).
First Watch.
One of my earliest memories is staying up super late with my mum and dad, and them finding this on the TV thus them ushering me to bed as quick as possible to watch it. Quite understandable why they didn’t let me watch, despite my protests to stay up longer.
Brimstone and Treacle is presented as a fable or allegory of the devil arriving on the doorstep and convincing whoever is at that door that he’s there to do good. And obviously, as soon as we see Sting’s Martin Taylor, we know he’s not there to do good. So proceeds a dark, gritty, seedy and grotesque cataclysm of lies, deception and praying on people who are desperate.
If I’m putting my film hat on, this film is about the concept of truth. Firstly, what you believe in, secondly, what you want to believe in and lastly, the harsh reality of it. Every character here is desperate to achieve something, whether it’s selfish or selfless and in one way or another, they all get what they desire, but not what they deserve. Especially Patricia, who’s disability - which is inadvertently caused by her father, is used and exploited as an excuse by all of our characters to allow themselves to do what’s in their best interests, sinister or pure, never really hers.
It’s a strong subject and it does leave something to be desired. I think the seriousness of the situation isn’t as present as it should be, I wish we could’ve explored Patricia and her disability and the harsher impacts it had on her, more of her fathers torment, more of her mothers guilt.
Absolutely loved how stylist and surreal in places this was. I was expecting more of a gothic horror but what it actually gives is something more akin to Argento’s
Susperia - even down to the vivid colour palette.
Obviously the music was absolutely fantastic. My dad is a huge Sting fan and that was passed down to me ten fold. Love the little synths and cuttings up of
I Burn for You by The Police.
