Customer Reviews

In My Father's Den

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Matthew Macfadyen is simply a superb actor. I was intrigued by him in Spooks, delighted by him in The Way We Live Now, and bewitched body and soul (sorry, I couldn't resist...) in Pride & Prejudice. But In My Father's Den shows the true depth of his talent.

War journalist Paul Prior returns home for his father's funeral having left at age seventeen. Staying on to help his brother Andrew (Colin Moy, Riverworld) clear out the house, Paul is inundated with memories of his childhood; his relationship with his father, his mother's suicide and affair with ex-girlfriend Jackie (Jodie Rimmer, Snakeskin). At the center of all of these memories is his father's den - a secret room filled with books and atlases which he discovered as a boy and where he dreamed of traveling the world.

Taking a temporary teaching position at the local school, Paul befriends ex-girlfriend Jackie's sixteen year old daughter, Celia (Emily Barclay). When Celia goes missing, Paul is the prime suspect.

The ending is gut wrenching.

Emily Barclay's debut is excellent, but without question, Matthew Macfadyen's acting makes this movie. I really look forward to seeing more of his acting in the future.

Macfadyen has the ability to make you forget you're watching a movie and isn't that what all actors should aspire to?

This is a haunting story of missed chances, misunderstandings and an effort to heal the past by changing the future. We follow the plot as it twists and turns through a series of flash backs mixed with present events. Returning after seventeen years to attend his father's funeral, Paul (Matthew MacFadyen) now a world famous photo-journalist, must finally face the horrors of the past and ultimately confront the reason he ran away so long ago. Much is revealed within his flash backs- some of which he has repressed, and they slowly close in on him. Mistrusted and openly disliked by some, possibly because he managed to escape the small town, he befriends 16 year old Celia, in whom he recognizes pieces of himself. She feels as out of place in this small minded town as he did and still does. Condemned for his friendship, he still nurtures her aspirations to leave this claustrophobic environment. When he finds she is the daughter of his old girlfriend and she was born eight months after his departure, he confronts her mother but gets no satisfactory answer. The relationship grows into a playful yet protective, parental one. When she disappears, he is the first suspect. As his flashbacks intensify, they become more horrifying and much of the truth is revealed. The house of cards must fall leaving devastation in their wake. Yet there is still alive, a tiny spark of hope, that after all he has suffered,like the Phoenix, he just may rise from the ashes. I highly recommend this multi- award winning film. It will haunt long after the end credits roll.

I've read about this movie and I just wanted to see for myself how good this movie really is. And I must say, this is one of the best one I've seen.
I love this movie and Matthew Macfadyen did a real good job. So did the rest of the cast. I would recommend this movie to everyone I know.

I saw this movie when it was first released in Australia. It is, without doubt, one of the best I have seen. It was also the first in which I encountered - to my good fortune - the acting craft of Matthew MacFadyen. Beautiful voice! If you love a 'cracking story' and damn good acting (the entire cast), do not lose the opportunity to acquaint yourself with this exemplary piece of story telling. Haunting stuff. A treasured item.

After I've read the reviews and because Matthew MacFadyen plays in it, I've purchased this movie from the UK.
This is a wonderful movie and absolutely worth watching - you will not be disappointed ! Matthew MacFadyen gives a moving performance - I just love this movie !

I wish Amazon would offer this film here in the US.

This movie is one of the best movies I seen in a long time. The actors do a wonderful job and the storyline is complex. It really is as great as all the reviews say it is. I can't really even describe how great it is other then it is really freaking awesome.