Posted on 25/01/2006

Keeping Mum

Rated M

reviewed by Sarah Barnett

Being a minister’s wife must be, I imagine, a difficult role. There are considerable expectations of what will be done and not done, ministry responsibilities and a sense in which one’s life is always under scrutiny. For Gloria Goodfellow (Kristen Scott Thomas) – the awkwardness is compounded. Married to Rowan Atkinson’s Walter Goodfellow, she is starved for attention and affection. But what’s worse she has lost her faith.

Walter Goodfellow is the vicar in the tiny and picturesque village of Little Wallop. Somewhat absent-minded he is oblivious to the dysfunction of his family. His wife – who swears and blasphemes like the proverbial trouper – is contemplating an affair with the lecherous golf coach Lance (Patrick Swayze), his barely clad daughter Holly is something of a nymphomaniac and his son Petey is being bullied at school.

Enter Grace. Well sort of. Grace Hawkins (Maggie Smith) is the Goodfellow’s new housekeeper and she can see straightaway what eludes Walter. After giving him some tips on making his sermons more accessible she moves on to helping him with his love life. However Grace’s methods of helping are not always limited to words. In her quest to keep the Goodfellows together she resorts to some extreme actions.

Depicting faith on screen is a challenging task. How does a filmmaker portray a character’s love for God in a real way? A black comedy, Keeping Mum, is unsure of its tone. It’s a comedy but the laughs are infrequent. And while it pillories Atkinson’s hapless clergyman it also tries to garner sympathy for his character.

Another fundamental problem is the credibility of the plot. The pairing of Gloria and Walter is unlikely. Gloria seems to have little interest in God or faith or even religion. That she would love and marry a clergyman seems somewhat incongruous. As is Walter’s role as keynote speaker for a clergy conference.

Yet despite the uneven tone, the dubious plotting and the murky morality, the trio of Maggie Smith, Rowan Atkinson and Kristin Scott Thomas are very watchable. Maggie Smith is a formidable actress and almost succeeds in making the film work.

The topic for Rev Goodfellow’s address is “God’s Mysterious Ways” and while the content is simplistic there are elements of truth woven into the speech. Quoting from Isaiah 55, he reads, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” then explains that this means God is saying, “I’m mysterious. Live with it.”

That God is other, a being utterly unlike us is only half the truth. From the outset God has forged a connection with humanity. Made in his likeness, God – despite his otherness – has reached out to us ultimately in his son Jesus.

And the Goodfellows? Well with Grace’s help they do manage to sort out their problems but only by creating a whole raft of new ones…

© anglican media sydney 2006