Film Review

In “Keeping Mum”, Grace Hawkins, the new housekeeper of the family Goodfellow, moves in with them. As she is trying to make the family happy, she goes to extreme lengths. The movie was released in the United Kingdom in 2005. The main characters are Walter and Gloria Goodfellow, played by Rowan Atkinson and Kristin Scott Thomas and Grace Hawkins, who is played by Maggie Smith. The British black comedy was directed by Niall Johnson.

The story is about the Goodfellow family, who slowly threatens to fall apart as it faces many problems. Walter, the vicar of the village of Little Wallop, does not have that much time for his family anymore, as he is very busy writing a sermon for a convention and fulfilling his duties as a vicar. Therefore, his wife Gloria begins an affair with her golf instructor. Their daughter Holly changes boyfriends every week and their son Petey is being bullied at school.

All of this seems to be solved as the new housekeeper, Grace Hawkins, comes into the family. She helps Petey with his bullying problem, gets Walter to pay more attention to his family and especially to his wife again, and as well she helps him with his sermon. Grace is determined to help the family, no matter what she has to do or what she thinks might solve the problem. She acts without regard for losses and is not scared of taking extreme measures.

The actors played their parts and represented the humour very well. Maggie Smith won an Oscar, one among many other prizes she has won, as well as her co-star Rowan Atkinson. It is easy to follow the story but parts of it are somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, the very end was actually kind of surprising and shocking.

I would recommend “Keeping Mum” to all people that like black humour. It does not really include a moral or any inspiring thoughts, rather the opposite. However, it has some funny moments that make you laugh.