Other Titles • The Hanging Garden • Le Jardin suspendu (1997)
Synopses for The Hanging Garden (1997)
1.
Canadian writer-director Thom Fitzgerald won awards for this unusual memory piece about a gay man (Chris Leavins) who returns home to his sister's wedding and the garden where he may or may not have made a tragic decision as an unhappy teen. Fitzgerald alters reality and indulges in quirks without any comment: past and present mingle, the eyes of statues move, and the whole thing drips with rain, portent, and an unpredictable sense of humor. His film will frustrate anyone wanting easy answers (or, in some cases, any answers at all) and it is, perhaps, aggressively unconventional. But its raw edges have a freshness to them, and Fitzgerald's people and events feel unusually alive (Kerry Fox is particularly fine as the brassy sibling). He doesn't view his characters in one dimension, seeing them instead as ever-blooming creatures of history, dreams, superstition, and regret. --Steve Wiecking
2.
A young man named Sweet William returns, as a successful and fit gay man, to the coastal town where he grew up--ten years after he ran away as an unhappy, obese, teenager. His reason for returning is his sister's wedding. The combination of family members and the conflicts that come along with them spark memories of the reasons why he left, as well as visions of alternate realities, including one in which he hung his fifteen year-old self from a tree in the backyard of the family home. This unusual and cryptic Canadian production, though overlooked in the U.S., was named as 1997's film of the year by the 'Globe and Mail', Canada's National newspaper, above THE SWEET HEREAFTER. Incidentally, like that film, this one also features acclaimed young actress, Sarah Polley.
3.
"A true original!" -Premiere
"Unpredictable" (The Hollywood Reporter), "imaginative" (Movieline) and "powerfully acted" (The New York Times), The Hanging Garden combines a "bittersweet story about family secrets" (Premiere) and compelling performances (Shallow Grave) and Sarah Polley (Go) into a "strange, utterly original" (Variety) and award-winning film!
Ten years have disappeared since William (Leavins) last visited his hometown. Now trim, attractive and as headstrong as he was once sullen, he is ready to face his dysfunctional family. But when the visit conjures up a haunting reality long since buried, William must accept that his appearance has been the least of the changes in his and his family's lives since the day he left, ten years before.
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