The Front Room – Film Review
by Frank L

Directors – Max Eggers, Sam Eggers
Writers – Susan Hill, Max Eggers, Sam Eggers
Stars – Brandy Norwood, Andrew Burnap, Kathryn Hunter

To be blunt there is little to enjoy in this film. It is however comparatively brief a mere 94 minutes. It starts exceedingly well. While the screen credits roll there are fine graphics displayed to a splendid orchestral adaptation of Mozart’s Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute.

The opening scene of Belinda (Brandy Norwood) lecturing to a group of anthropology students is reassuring enough. Her job in the faculty department is not secure and she is pregnant. She fails to obtain tenure and quits. Her lawyer husband Norman (Andrew Burnap), who works as a public defender, appears to be ineffectual. His estranged father dies and they attend the funeral. Norman admittedly showed little enthusiasm to attend and made clear that his stepmother Solange (Kathryn Hunter) was a monster.

At the funeral, Solange makes clear that now that she is widowed she will come to live with them. As Belinda and Norman are strapped for cash, they enter into a Mestipholean bargain whereby Solange pays off their mortgage on their large, creaking 19th-century house. Belinda was far more enthusiastic about this deal than Norman. Solange is not inside the door before her selfishness and unpleasantness become clear. She is indeed a monster whose hideousness is made more offensive by religious fanaticism.

The film is punctuated by various grim scenes particularly those which explicitly show Solange’s incontinence which she uses as a weapon against Norman and Belinda. Solange has no redeeming features. She is a figure from hell. Burnap’s performance as Norman is pedestrian and Norwood fails to make Belinda credible.

The characters never develop to a level where they become credible. The script is slightly undercooked and often quite unpleasant. Although there are other characters including a gaggle of born-again Christians, nothing alleviates the film from the sheer nastiness of Solange.