Savage House (15)
Directed by Peter Glanz
★★★★☆

SET in 18th century England during the pox outbreak and the Jacobite uprising, this deliciously dark comedy satire lives up to its name in its savage lampooning of British class and power.

It follows the low-born Sir Chauncey (Richard E Grant) and his aristocratic wife Lady Savage (Claire Foy), both social climbers, who live decadently beyond their means in a bid to keep up appearances. When they are invited to host a dinner for the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, which they perceive as their golden opportunity to elevate their social standing, they sell the family jewels to finance their endeavour.

The film, written and directed by Peter Glanz, skewers the greed, the entitlement and the manipulation of these aristocrats who are rotten to the core. There is nothing glamorous about their stately home which is decaying and rotting inside, denoted by putrid fruit. Meanwhile their long-suffering servants are plotting their revenge.

Grant and Foy are sublime in this brutal drama which is not for the squeamish. If you can get past putrefying flesh, leeches and disgusting eating, it ends on a satisfying note.  
MD
In cinemas June 5.

Enzo (15)
Directed by Robin Capillo 
★★★★☆

 

THIS poignant and slow-burning coming-of-age drama set in the south of France was Laurent Cantet’s final film, which his longtime collaborator Robin Capillo finished following his death from cancer in 2024.

It follows 16-year-old Enzo (impressive newcomer Eloy Pohu) who defies his well-off middle-class family to work as an apprentice on a construction site. There he becomes taken with a charismatic Ukranian colleague Vlad (a mesmerising Maksym Slivinskyi) who befriends him. Their backgrounds and future couldn’t be more different. Enzo lives in a sun-drenched villa with a pool and has endless options while Vlad is battling against returning to Ukraine to fight in the war against Russia.

Reminiscent of Call Me By Your Name, Enzo develops feelings for an older guy who is actually straight and puts him firmly in his place. Despite his privileged upbringing Enzo feels like an outsider and shows his darker side as he slowly unravels in some shocking scenes.

While the film makes no judgements, it shows the disparaging gulf between Enzo and the working-class Vlad, culminating in a moving phone call at the end. 
MD
In cinemas June 5.

Madfabulous (12A)
Directed by Celyn Jones
★★☆☆☆

INSPIRED by the true story of flamboyant Edwardian, the 5th Marquis of Anglesey, this is a film Peter Murrell might enjoy while banged up. “It was never about the money,” Henry Cyril Paget announces, having burned through his massive inheritance in short order. Jewels and clothes, cars and costumes; the compulsion to acquire is celebrated in this bio-romp-comedy-drama.

Directed by Celyn Jones, poorly written by Lisa Baker, and starring a compelling Callum Scott Howells (It’s A Sin), the film is a sumptuous B movie that misses its mark. “Always be true to yourself” is the cri de coeur for difference that the pink-suited iconoclast Marquis sets against the fusty Establishment closing in on him.

Oscar Wilde is a liminal presence in the film, represented by Rupert Everett (who played Wilde in The Happy Prince) as the aged butler. Proust is there too, represented by the Marquis’s moustache. But ultimately the film hedges its bets, limiting itself to style over subtlety; it’s like a queer biopic that is hidden inside Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

A shallow repetition of excess slides by like the conveyor belt of objects on The Generation Game. The mystery of Henry Paget gets hijacked by a ’70s vibe, cheery but ultimately safe and depressive somehow. Everything that Oscar, and even poor Henry, were not.

“You can’t reduce someone’s whole life to the size of their debts,” the butler sums up. Words to cheer Peter Murrell perhaps, but in fact this is what Madfabulous effectively does.
FoC
In cinemas June 5.

Erupcja (12A)
Directed by Pete Ohs
★★★★☆

DESPITE its brevity (71 minutes) and slender plot, Erupcja is a shrewd examination of the tension between emotional commitment and personal autonomy.

A comedy of manners set in Warsaw, it centres on a set of flawed but appealing thirty-somethings. Nel (an enthralling performance by Lena Gora) is a florist whose unfocused sense of angst stems from her on-off relationship with a woman called Ula.

Meanwhile, Bethany (Charli XCX) arrives in Warsaw for a holiday with her diffident and hyper-attentive boyfriend, Rob (Will Madden). 

Suffocated by Will’s itinerary of galleries and restaurants, the restless Beth, who has visited the city before, drifts off to resurrect a turbulent relationship with Nel. 

The title, Erupcja (Polish for “eruption”) refers to an apparent coincidence at the heart of their emotional bond. 

The cinematography is dazzling. One affecting montage features rain falling on a cobbled street as Rob’s anxious phone messages go unanswered by Bethany. 
AH
In cinemas June 5.