Memories of the first act of Ira Levin’s play, Deathtrap — transformed into a terrific 1982 film by director Sidney Lumet — surfaced while watching this nasty little character piece.
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| While Liam (Daryl McCormack, background) watches with dismay, Sinclair (Richard E. Grant, left) crueslly tells his son, Bertie (Stephen McMcillan) that he'll never amount to anything. The boy's mother Hélèle (Julie Delpy) offers no rebuttal. |
The only questions are who will do the stealing, and from whom. And while both answers soon may seem obvious, it’s best not to make assumptions.
Classics scholar Liam Somers (Daryl McCormack) is hired by Sinclair’s wife, Hélène (Julie Delpy), to help their son Bertie (Stephen McMillan) sharpen his writing skills, in order to improve the young man’s chances for university admission. After establishing a worthy talent for this assignment, Liam is hired full-time, and invited to live in the lavish Sinclair estate’s guest cottage.
Although at first blush this seems an average posting, the atmosphere is tense, the family dynamic quite brittle. Sinclair enjoys belittling his wife and son; the former responds with calm detachment, while the latter clearly fears his father. Liam is warned, early on, never to mention the Sinclairs’ older son, Felix.
Bertie’s cowering nature in his father’s presence notwithstanding, the boy is uncooperative — even dismissive — under Liam’s gentle efforts at guidance, although the boy is grudgingly impressed by his tutor’s “party trick.”
Liam has a form of eidetic memory that allows him to remember a complete literary work — sonnet, poem, short story — if triggered by a brief quoted passage.
Although an acknowledged fan of Sinclair’s work — Liam wonders if that has any bearing on why he was hired by Hélène — his relationship with the author initially remains formal and distant. Sinclair is trying to finish his newest novel — after a lapse of many years — and, after hours, Liam also is struggling to complete his first novel, titled Tower 24.
A droll scene follows: Liam — able to see Sinclair in his study, from the guest house’s bedroom window — tries desperately to match the author’s late-night pace … but, ultimately, falls asleep at his desk. Upon waking the following morning, Liam is chagrined to see that Sinclair still is hard at work.
Bertie eventually thaws. Warning Liam not to touch the poisonous blossoms of a particularly lush rhododendron, the boy further explains that “It’s basically a weed; nothing can grow around it.” Liam realizes — as do we — that the boy isn’t really speaking about the bush.
A rhododendron also is known as a Rose Tree, which just happens to be the title of Sinclair’s novel-in-progress.
