IMDb RATING
6.5/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Two boys try to drive a strict priest mad with their confessed sins at a boarding school in England.Two boys try to drive a strict priest mad with their confessed sins at a boarding school in England.Two boys try to drive a strict priest mad with their confessed sins at a boarding school in England.
David Bradley
- Arthur
- (as Dai Bradley)
- Director
- Writers
- Anthony Shaffer
- Richard O'Keefe(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRichard Burton turned down an offer to play King Lear on stage in Canada in order to make this movie.
- GoofsIn the tennis match, a close shot of Benjie shows him serving whilst standing in the right service court (which would be illegal) but the long shot shows him serving from the baseline (legal). The score is 30-all, so he should be serving from the right side of the baseline, but is shown serving from the left side.
- Quotes
Benjie: What I told you before as a joke, I made happen. I killed him.
Father Goddard: I do not believe you!
Benjie: You must Father. What would be the point of playing the same joke twice?
Featured review
Absolution
I wonder what it must have been like for Dominic Guard to play this really pretty manipulative role opposite Richard Burton. Whatever nerves or awe he may have felt is very well disguised, though, as he turns in a super performance as the young student "Benjie". His teacher - "Fr. Goddard" (Burton) is a man of profound faith and little tolerance of, or interest in, his students. The former alights on a plan to torment the latter by making a false confession - safe in the knowledge that this confession must be taken to the grave. The priest believes, investigates and discovers it is a practical joke. Soon, though, he is being subjected, regularly, to more equally heinous confessions and after discovering that there is truth to one of them, he slowly he begins to lose the plot. The pace builds well, the performances from the two and from David Bradley's slightly OCD "Arthur" giving us quite a sense of tension, and the last few scenes offer us a pretty brutal and unexpected series of twists. Burton is immersed in the role, and though maybe a little hammy towards the end manages to work well with the two younger actors to create quite a tense drama. The narrative also opens up to scrutiny the concept of "blind faith" - however well intentioned, and encourages thoughts on the pros and cons of any form of religion-based eduction.
helpful•10
- CinemaSerf
- Jun 4, 2023
Details
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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