THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM


UK, 2016, 109 minutes, Colour.
Bill Nighy, Olivia Cooke, Douglas Booth, Sam Reid, Daniel Mays, Maria Valverde.
Directed by Juan Carlos Medina.

This is an impressive period drama. London, 1880. But using the word drama does not indicate the range of the film: the city of London, Dickensian London, Limehouse and the area, poverty and vice, the music calls, a serial killer anticipating Jack the Ripper, Scotland Yard and police investigations and detection. The film is based on a book by London and Dickens expert, Peter Ackroyd.

The film is also well-crafted, atmospheric set design and locations, the colour photography design with the suggestions of darkness. And arresting performances with Bill Nighy as the Scotland Yard detective, Olivia Cooke, whose performance impresses throughout the film but even more so in the last quarter of an hour, is the toast of the music halls and Douglas Booth, based on the title character of Ackroyd’s book, Dan Leto and the Limehouse Golem (1994), is the star and (real-life) entrepreneur of the music hall.

There have been gruesome murders in the area and, with clues painted on walls, the press has nicknamed the killer The Limehouse Golem, drawing on the Jewish legend of the diabolical killer. The dead include a family who ran a local shop. At the opening, Lizzie Cree (Olivia Cooke) is accused of poisoning her husband. The local constabulary investigate, including an earnest policeman, Daniel Mays. When Scotland Yard is called in, an inspector, who can be the scapegoat if the investigation fails, is Inspector Kildare. He is played effectively in a kind of mournful, withdrawn but earnest fashion by Bill Nighy.

Investigations lead to the British Library and a group of men who read there, including Karl Marx and novelist, George Gissing. They provide the four suspects for the murders – and, as Inspector Kildare interviews them, the film visualises each of them committing one of the murders, building up for the audience the detail of what happened to each of the victims and the involvement of the killer.

In the meantime, Lizzie Cree is arrested and imprisoned. Inspector Kildare becomes intrigued, then quietly infatuated by, listening to her sad life story, visualised in flashbacks, with her as harshly treated little girl, going to the music hall, being a given job assisting, stepping in to perform and charming the audience while feeling exhilarated. She has married the journalist John Cree who is one of the suspects as the Limehouse Golem.

Inspector Kildare becomes rather desperate, building up a portrait of the killer, aided by the writing in one of the books from the British Library, a distinctive writing style, asking each of the suspects to write in that manner.

And, there is quite a twist at the end, quite unforeseen, and a tragic re-enactment of the case in the theatre presided over by Dan.

The screenplay, by Jane Goldman (X- Men, Kingsman), keeps the audience very much involved, takes them back to live in a strange and even sordid past, and providing a profile of murderous madness.

1. The impact of the film? History, social awareness, crime, police investigation? The 19th century?

2. The film based on writings by Peter Ackroyd, his expertise in 19th-century London, on Dickens? The screenwriter and her work in superhero films? 1880, London, Dickensian, Wilkie Collins and detective stories, echoes of Jack the Ripper? The musicals?

3. The title, Jewish lore, the rabbi, his research, his death? The killer, indications of the Golem in the press using this title?

4. The interconnection of the social conditions of the period, the theatre, murders, investigation? The linear aspect of the plot? The range of flashbacks? The play and the dramatising? Imagining each of the suspects performing a crime? The twist, the finale, the solution? The performance in the theatre and the hanging?

5. 1880s London, seedy, Limehouse, the streets, houses, theatre, backstage, the shops, the police officers? The ugly and squalid London, poor, the world of the prostitutes? The photography, the colour design, and visual portrait of the period?

6. The theatre, Dan Leto, his status as an artist, his performances, beginning with The End? The story of Lizzie Cree? His performances, songs, dresses? Cree’s play? Welcoming Lizzie, the attraction, watching her? Aveline and her place in the theatre, performance, trapeze? The jealousies?

7. The introduction to Lizzie Cree, married, the death of her husband, the accusations of poison, Abilene and the insinuations? Lizzie, arrested, going to prison, her patience in prison?

8. Lizie’s flashbacks, visualising her childhood, as a girl with her harsh mother, the punishments, the accusations? The mother’s death? The reading, attraction to the theatre, becoming an assistant, Uncle and his patronage? The interactions with the dwarf? The rivalry with Abilene?

9. Uncle and his place in the theatre, producer, advice? With Lizzie? Taking her to the room, his pornographic photos? His death?

10. The dwarf, in the theatre, performance, Lizzie’s reaction, his murder?

11. Lizzie’s relationship with Dan, his infatuation, the jobs, the work, becoming a substitute, performing on stage, the singing, relishing it, rapport with the audience, the repartee? Success? John Cree and his attention to Lizzie? The courting, the time, marrying, retiring, controlled at home, and dramatic aspirations, Cree and his play, not finishing
it?

12. John Cree, husband, dead, poisoned, the journalist, his stories, getting information, the attraction to Lizzie, the visits to the theatre, Aveline and his jealousy? The marriage, Lizzie living apart, his sexual relationship with Aveline? His being accused, and acting one of the murders? His own death?

13. The British Library, the list, the four men, Karl Marx, George Gissing? Tracking down each of the suspects, the characters, Marx and his research, the philosopher, the men on drugs? The intensity of the reenactments? De Quincey and Murder as One of the Fine Arts and the annotations? The writing style?

14. The murders, the Jewish man, the family and the maid? Close-up, gruesome? The dates? The reconstructions? Each of the accused building up the story? The purchase of the shop, the name, Cree, on the list?

15. Scotland Yard, involvement, Roberts and his not wanting to be the scapegoat, bringing in Inspector Kildare, Roberts and the lack of cooperation, taunting? The documents?

16. The role of the media, the media pack, headlines, pursuing Kildare?

17. Bill Night as Inspector Kildare, his character, previous failures, George Flood and his work, on the site, Kildare choosing him as his assistant? The work together? The details
of the investigation?

18. Kildare going to the prison, interviewing Lizzie? The effect, the attraction, charmed, infatuated, listening to her? Her manner, the audience sharing in Kildare’s response? The coming execution, becoming more desperate, the evidence? Her final moments?

19. The revelation of the truth, the writing, Cree on the list at the shop, meaning Lizzie? Her writing? Her confession? The revelation of her true character? The jealousies, the madness, the viciousness, the deaths? De Quincey and her writing? Visualising all the killings?

20. Her being called for execution, the guard, hoping for some reprieve?

21. Kildare, the realisation of the truth, whether to burn the note or not, his burning it?

22. The irony of his being acclaimed with John Cree as the killer, the false premise?

23. Going to the theatre, the performance of the play, Aveline and her playing Lizzie, starting with the hanging sequence, Dan in the dressing room, checking on the safety, Aveline and her being hanged – intentionally by Dan or not?