DEATH AT A FUNERAL
UK, 2007, 90 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Mac fadyen, Keeley Hawes, Andy Nyman, Ewen Bremner, Daisy Donovan, Alan Tudyk, Jane Asher, Kris Marshall, Rupert Graves, Peter Vaughan, Thomas Wheatley, Peter Egan, Peter Dinklage.
Directed by Frank Oz.
A tongue-in-cheek title which sounds something like an Agatha Christie title. And, it all takes place in a village which, in its more sedate past, might have been a setting for Miss Marple to do her investigations.
This comedy and farce is much less sedate – and is directed by Frank Oz who knows how to be irreverent since he began voicing Miss Piggy and other Muppet characters more than thirty years ago. He has also directed some funny comedies including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and In and Out. This comic flair serves him well here as his flamboyance is tempered by a very British setting with some stiff upper lips having to become quite, quite loose.
The amusing credit sequence traces a hearse travelling along the country roads on a map – and getting lost. An obvious joke follows but it is handled with aplomb and gets the audience laughing. The atmosphere gradually builds up as we are introduced to all those going to the funeral. Some of the stories are serious, others farcical. And, gradually, things get right out of hand what with some hallucinogenic tablets mistaken for vallium (which propels the plot right until the end), a mysterious dwarf with some incriminating photos, an extra death which one knows will lead to the corpse being hidden in the coffin, and hilariously being discovered… and more.
It goes for only 90 minutes but, apart from the swearing and some innuendo, most audiences will have smiles or get some good (and some surprise) laughs.
Matthew Mac Fadyen has to hold the film together in the serious role as the son of the deceased and he achieves this very well. Rupert Graves is his self-centred novelist brother. Jane Asher is their proper mother. Keeley Hawes as Mac Fadyen’s wife provides the pleasantly normal anchor to the proceedings. In the meantime there are some funny turns by Andy Nyman as a hypochondriac, Peter Vaughan as the irascible old uncle, Kris Marshall as the student who has put the hallucinogenics in a vallium bottle and American Alan Tudyk who has the most difficult role of all, the ordinary young man who has been given the wrong vallium and who hallucinates accordingly. Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) is the mysterious dwarf.
Old style British comedy with a 21st century tone.
1.The appeal of black comedy? The British tradition? The 21st century style – language, issues?
2.The credits sequence, the suggestion of the hearse being lost, the build-up to the jokes about lost coffins? The kind of humour, of characters, of situations, slapstick, farce, satire? Verbal and visual? The unexpected?
3.A film of interiors, the flats, the house? The exteriors of the road, the bad driver, parking? The garden? The roof? The musical score?
4.The title, the irony, the Agatha Christie-sounding title, variations on a theme?
5.Daniel as the focus: his age, the delivery of the coffin, the mistake, his relationship with Jane, living with his mother, the deposit on the flat, his dithering? His relationship with his mother, memory of his father, preparing the eulogy? The relationship with Robert, with Martha and Simon? His Uncle Alfie? A serious man, the anchor of the mayhem? The preparations, putting off the minister? His anger at Robert, the importance of his own novel? Noticing Peter, putting him off? The eventual conversation?
6.Robert, the successful novelist, living in New York, away from all the family and difficulties? Relationship with his mother? Flirting with the girls, his not having any money, not being able to pay his part of the funeral expenses?
7.Martha and Simon, their relationship? Going to check with Troy? The valium? The drive, Simon and his hallucinations? Martha and the past relationship with Justin? His following her round? Her rejecting him? Her concern about Simon, the humiliation of his outburst about the coffin, her father’s disapproval, Simon in the bathroom, naked on the roof, her going to rescue him, the news of her pregnancy? Simon as a nice person, understanding the effects of the drugs, his behaviour, the final humour of the moving lid of the coffin? A happy ending for Martha and Simon? Justin revealed as a fool?
8.Troy, the drugs, changing the bottle, the valium for Simon, searching for the lost bottle, the humour of the valium? His being involved in disposing of the body?
9.The valium theme, Simon, giving the valium to Peter and its effect, finally with Uncle Alfie?
10.Justin and Howard, the drive, Justin and his focus on Martha? His self-centred style? Howard, the hypochondriac, having to pick up Uncle Alfie, his concern about his skin, pursuing Victor for an explanation? Taking Uncle Alfie to the toilet and the repercussions, his concern?
11.Victor, serious, anger with Martha and his dislike of Simon? Martha speaking the truth to him? His becoming a bitter old man?
12.The mother, not knowing the truth about her husband, her grief, the encounter with Howard and his talk? Her being overcome? Getting back to the funeral?
13.Peter, the dwarf, his presence, wanting to talk to Daniel, eventually the discussion, the truth, the photos, the past relationship, wanting fifteen thousand pounds, Daniel and Robert and their argument, almost signing the cheque, the refusal? His being drugged? His being high, jumping on the table, falling, hitting his head? Their thinking he was dead? Troy, Howard and their helping? Explanations to Jane? People outside watching Simon on the roof, their hiding the body in the coffin? The irony that he wasn’t dead? Moving the lid?
14.The reverend, wanting to leave, continually waiting for five minutes – but finally dragooning everyone in to speed up the service?
15.The mayhem, the revelations? Everybody seeing the photos? Daniel and Robert and the future, Robert reading the manuscript, taking his mother to New York? Uncle Alfie and his sitting on the roof after taking the valium?
16.Daniel’s speech, the eulogy of his father – the sentiment, the truth? The importance of the funeral for each of the characters?
