Brimstone and Treacle (1987)

Absolutely Fantastic

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Dennis Potter's Play for Today, Brimstone and Treacle was banned by the BBC and later became a film with pop star Sting playing the role of Martin Taylor.The banned play was later broadcast by the BBC allowing us to see what the controversy was all about. Potter wrote this as a religious parable and instead of thinking about the power of goodness, Potter thought what if the power of evil actually brought some happiness or sense of purpose.Michael Kitchen is the polite young man called Martin but in essence is the devil who visits a middle aged couple who look after their severely brain damaged daughter left that way after a car accident. He claims to be a friend of the daughter and stays on as a lodger.The father (Denholm Elliott) is a little man frustrated with life and is a racist. Of course once the devil suggests that we should kill them all, leave no black, brown, yellow people alive, he sorts of thinks twice about his racism and realises the implications of his hatred.The wife (Patricia Lawrence) is downtrodden with no life of her own looking after and bickering with her husband and caring for her daughter but the devil brings a little meaning to her life. As to the brain damaged daughter he cures her by attempting to rape her which is the element of the story that left the film unscreened for so many years and of course is the most disturbing especially as he wheels her around in anticipation of the dark deed.Kitchen is charming, infuriating and shady as Martin the devil incarnate. However despite the 1970s production values, Potter's writing shines through here and it is a play that makes you think.

I remember being extremely disturbed by this play on first seeing it twenty years ago, and it has not lost any of its power to shock. A young man, who we know right from the start to be the devil, coolly chooses his victim on the high street, foisting himself on the nervous and racist Mr Bates by his supposed friendship with Bates' handicapped daughter, Pattie. As the devil (here called Martin) Michael Kitchen is menacing and also very funny, while Denholm Elliott plays the father very well. Michelle Newell and Patricia Lawrence complete the cast as the girl vegetated by a car accident and her put-upon mother, destined to care for her forever.Banned by the BBC for nine years, mainly because the basic message of the play is that as the devil rapes Pattie, so her restores her power of speech and the quality of her existence. But the play is much more profound than that, although some of its message is muddled and not fully developed. Potter himself claimed that 'Brimstone and Treacle' was a religious parable about good and evil - if so, it raises some interesting questions while being both distasteful and compelling to watch.

Dennis Potter was a unique and profound talent who wrote many great pieces of work for television. His work was entertaining, witty, satirical, innovative and challenging for both viewers and those involved in the television industry. Brimstone and Treacle is perhaps the most difficult piece he wrote which is reflected in the fact that the BBC banned it for 11 years. I recently watched it again and I found it to be as fresh and as shocking as ever. Viewed in the light of what British TV has become in the last 10 years it was particularly refreshing to be reminded of the quality it was once world famous for.I really can't speak highly enough of this remarkable work. Firstly there are the superb performances of the three main leads. Michael Kitchen is breath taking to watch and Denholm Elliot was in his element playing a sleazy little man racked with guilt. Patricia Lawrence was also perfect as the downtrodden "mumsy". Dennis Potter's script was perfect and gave them wonderful lines. The story is disturbing and sick but at the same time incredibly funny. I couldn't help laugh at the demented sight of Michael Kitchen wheeling the mentally handicapped Patty around the living room before having his way with her. There was also what were at the time very innovative uses of lighting and camera which are still highly effective even today. There is also the Dennis Potter trade mark use of music.What really offended people about this play, apart from the fact a mentally handicapped girl is raped, is a that demon comes into the lives of three people in a desperate situation and turns out to be their saviour. Not that he intended to or could care less about them but through his actions he saves Patty from her terrible state and frees "mumsy" from both the tyranny of her husband and having to look after Patty. The only one who comes worse is the father who as it turns out is the truly guilty one.Early in the play a quote from Kierkegaard is shown on the screen, "There resides infinitely more good in the demonic than in a trivial man". Tom, Denholm Elliot's character, may not be evil but he is sentimental, dishonest, cowardly and racist. He has no real good in him and no real bad in him. He's an ineffective and frustrated little man and lacks the courage and conviction to be good or bad. This is why he is trivial. Martin, Michael Kitchen's character, is a thoroughly wicked demon but is far from trivial and lives a remarkable life. Perhaps the message from this is that it is better to be who you are with total conviction whether that is good or evil than to live a crippled pointless life in which you are neither.However the exact meaning and message of this play could be debated for years and that is, at least in part, what makes a truly great and profound piece of work.

This Denis Potter TV play was banned for about 15 years in the UK and was only shown for the first time recently. In the interim it was made into a film with a different cast.Potter begins with the proposal that there is more good in some people who appear to be bad than there is in some people who pretend to be good.A young woman has been brain damaged in a car accident and is bed ridden. She cannot communicate or feed herself. Her mother looks after her 24 hours a day. On day a demon in human form visits her house and ingratiates himself into the family. When alone with the girl he rapes her and then.....see for yourself.The play is disturbing but to educated people it raises interesting moral issues. It could act as a good catalyst for a discussion session in an evangelistic church and would raise some strong feelings.