Keeping Mum

Introduction

Generated by the project team in 2021

Erasmus+ school project “May ICT be with you”

CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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What is the meaning of “ keeping mum” ?

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• to stay silent (Mum’s the word.)
• appears to be a word of imitative origins, referencing the “mmmmmm”
• “mummeries” or silent plays

Comes up in some plays on words

• the British slang term “mum” for “mother”
• propaganda posters in WW II: "Stay Like Dad: Keep Mum"

Genre

A 2005 British black comedy film

• Co written and directed by Niall Johnson
• Written by Richard Russo
• Photographed by Gavin Finney

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Typically British, atypically black...

· “It kills with sweetness and teaches with wrongdoing.”

(Angeliki Coconi)

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Rotten Tomatoes: 56% of critics gave the film positive write-ups

Budget: $169,000 / Box office $18,575,768

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Themes

• Family secrets
• Human sexuality
• Taking revenge

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• Having priorities in life
• Paying attention to relationships
• Giving the impression that it’s OK to take the law into your own hands

The Song of Songs

Main characters

• Reverend Walter Goodfellow, a humourless reverend (Rowan Atkinson)
• Gloria Goodfellow, a neglected housewife (Kristin Scott Thomas )
• Holly Goodfellow, their teenage daughter, constantly finding new boyfriends (Tamsin Egerton)

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• Petey Goodfellow, their son, frequently bullied at school (Toby Parkes)
• Grace Hawkins, Gloria’s mother, a serial killer (Maggie Smith)
• Young Grace (Emilia Fox)
• Lance, Gloria’s golf instructor (Patrick Swayze)

Plot

• The well-meaning but rather dull Reverend Walter Goodfellow, vicar of Little Wallop, spends all his energies on his sermons.
• As a result, he fails to notice the unsuitability of his daughter's boyfriends, his son is struggling to make any friends at school, and his wife conducting a half-hearted affair with her suave golf teacher Lance.
• But everything changes when the Goodfellows get a sweet new housekeeper, Grace Hawkins ...

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God’s Mysterious Ways

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Settings

• The main filming location was in the village of St Michael Penkevil in Cornwall.
• Locations on the Isle of Man were used for all filming outside the village.

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Lighting & colour

• Warm and natural ambiente
• Daylight and darkness
• Well-lit faces (close-up shots) in the dark background

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Sound & music

• Written and performed by Dickon Hinchliffe of The Tindersticks (an English alternative rock band formed in Nottingham in 1991)

The Soundtrack

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Props

• The kettle and flowery cups
• A big leather trunk
• The pond

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Official trailer