Watch Brimstone & Treacle For Free

Thanks for the memories!

Let's be realistic.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

A middle class commuter belt couple Mr Bates (Denholm Elliot) and Mrs Bates (Joan Plowright) are duped into taking a charming young man Martin(Sting)into their house to help care for their catatonic daughter (Suzanna Hamilton). Martin claims to have been close to their daughter before an accident left her unable to communicate. As the film progresses the couple mistakenly start to trust Martin and dark family secrets are revealed.Originally a stage play written by Dennis Potter the film is in turn engrossing, disturbing and claustrophobic. Denholm Elliot is as ever brilliant as the lonely and disturbed father figure, Sting puts in a good performance as a strange and demonic young man, Joan Plowright is very good as the maternal and naive housewife.The two slight let downs for me were the music which I did'nt feel fitted in well with the film and the main fantasy sequence which did'nt stand the test of time well.Other than that the film held my attention throughout, the direction by Richard Loncraine was extremely capable, all in all an intriguing and idiosyncratic piece which is well worth a watch.

This film was never around much at the time of it's release dispite some good word of mouth. It is pretty well brought off in every way, but leaves one feeling one has seen a rather more obvious version of Pinter with then trendy rock and an even more pronouced lack of point. Sting holds his own surprisingly well with his classy co-stars.. It's Potter's heavy handed irony, admittedly popular, that just tires you out.

Depending on your point of view, this is either an incredibly sick film or a classic piece of Filme Noire.Basically, Sting is a strange, disturbed young man who at least believes himself to be the devil incarnate. He inveigles his way into the house of a middle-aged couple and their brain damaged daughter, persuades them to let him "babysit" and then rapes the comatose girl while they are out.The characterisation is fairly well handled, as is the psychological aspect, but you can't help thinking that Dennis Potter was feeling rather more controversial than normal when he wrote it and that the director was exploiting the situation to get away with gratuitous, sadistic sex scenes masquerading as art.Ultimately, this is a very disturbing film, but is at least head and shoulders above the "made for TV" play released a few years earlier.The music on the other hand - by Sting himself (both solo and with The Police) - is much better fare. Simple production and a strange mix of styles, but at times it really captures the macabre mood down to a tee.

If you look up the definition of the two terms in the title, it will give you some insight into where the film is headed (I didn't know what brimstone was either--crazy Brits). I've always liked Sting's work, and I was intrigued to see Showtime was playing one of his movies that I'd never heard of. Since it got three stars in the TV guide, I figured it was better than Dune, and it was.The movie is a very odd Indie film that really keeps your attention. Sting is really funny and spooky--especially considering how whitebread he has become since his alternative days. A summary of the movie--con artist takes advantage of a family's tragedy--sounds very depressing, but the movie is strangely uplifting. Maybe I'm just a freak.