Diamond Skulls

Last updated

Diamond Skulls
Diamond Skulls film.jpeg
Directed by Nick Broomfield
Written by Nick Broomfield
Tim Rose Price
Produced by Tim Bevan
Jane Fraser
Starring
Cinematography Michael Coulter
Edited byRodney Holland
Music by Hans Zimmer
Production
company
Release date
Sept 1989 (London Film Festival)
Running time
100min
CountryU.K.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.5 million [1]

Diamond Skulls (also known as Dark Obsession) is a British 1989 thriller directed by Nick Broomfield who also co-wrote with Tim Rose-Price. An established documentary filmmaker, this is Broomfield's first work of fiction. [2] It is produced by Tim Bevan and Jane Fraser and stars Amanda Donohoe, Gabriel Byrne and Struan Rodger and has a music score by Hans Zimmer. It includes the last film performance of Ian Carmichael. [3]

Contents

Plot

Lord Hugo Bruckton is a young Englishman who is the heir to a vast fortune. He is married to Ginny, who seems devoted and loyal to him, and they have a young son. But Hugo is haunted by jealousy, for he imagines Ginny in the arms of a colleague. He begins to spy on her and goes into a rage over her suspected infidelity. One night, after a social gathering with members of his old British Army regiment, Hugo and his friends go out for a drive. He accidentally runs over a woman, who dies at the scene. All but one of his friends urge Hugo to drive on. In his drunk state of mind, Hugo had imagined himself running over Ginny.

Over the next few days, a psychological war ensues. Peter, Hugo's business associate, wants to use the cover-up to leverage power over the estate. Jamie, who's dating Hugo's sister, wants to go to the police to report it. Hugo's family closes ranks as Ginny and the rest side with Hugo, who fears that his arrest and imprisonment will ruin the family's reputation. As the police investigation closes in on Hugo, the power struggle leads to deadly consequences.

At the end, Peter and Hugo murder Jamie and arrange it to look like a suicide—that it had been Jamie driving the car that killed the woman—and he had killed himself out of guilt by throwing his dead body off a seaside cliff. The police believe the story and close the case, and the amoral Hugo gets away with everything as he continues his sordid and unwholesome life undisturbed.

Cast

Production

In this movie Amanda Donohoe was faced with the added pressure of simulating sexual intercourse with another actor in front of director Nick Broomfield, with whom she was developing a romantic relationship. "I left the filming of that scene until the end of shooting," said Broomfield in reference to the controversial sex scene between Donohoe and Gabriel Byrne. [4]

Rating

Diamond Skulls received an NC-17 rating upon its release in the United States during June 1991.

Reception

Diamond Skulls received generally mixed reviews: the film carries a 36% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 11 reviews, with an average of 5.9/10. [5] The film was given two thumbs up by Siskel & Ebert. [6]

In the New York Times review Diamond Skulls; Aristocracy When It Thinks No One is Looking, Janet Maslin considered that "rarely does a documentary film maker make the transition to fiction as adroitly as Nicholas Broomfield has in Dark Obsession, a psychological thriller displaying a documentarian's fascination for small, telling details." Maslin also praised "an eerie score by Hans Zimmer, a chilling performance by Struan Rodger as Sir Hugo's cold blooded business associate and the unremarked upon inclusion of many odd bits of traditionalism that have presumably made men like Sir Hugo what they are". [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Point of No Return</i> (1993 film) 1993 American film

Point of No Return is a 1993 American action film directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda and Gabriel Byrne. It is a remake of Luc Besson's 1990 film La Femme Nikita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sadie Frost</span> English actress and producer

Sadie Liza Frost is an English actress, producer and fashion designer. Her credits as an actress include Empire State (1987), Diamond Skulls, also known as Dark Obsession (1989), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), The Krays (1990), Magic Hunter (1994), Shopping (1994), A Pyromaniac's Love Story (1995), Flypaper (1997), Final Cut (1998), Captain Jack (1999), Love, Honour and Obey (2000), Beyond the Rave (2008), Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism (2015), and A Bird Flew In (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Broomfield</span> English documentary film director

Nicholas Broomfield is an English documentary film director. His self-reflective style has been regarded as influential to many later filmmakers. In the early 21st century, he began to use non-actors in scripted works, which he calls "Direct Cinema". His output ranges from studies of entertainers to political works such as examinations of South Africa before and after the end of apartheid and the rise of the black-majority government of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress party.

Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1996) is a feature-length documentary film by Nick Broomfield. It concerns Heidi Fleiss, then a madam involved in a prostitution ring. In the film, Broomfield attempts to discover if Fleiss truly is a "horrible person" and what made her that way.

<i>Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer</i> 2003 film

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer is a 2003 feature-length documentary film about Aileen Wuornos, made by Nick Broomfield as a follow-up to his 1992 film Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer. The film focuses on Wuornos' declining mental state and the questionable judgment to execute her despite her being of unsound mind.

<i>Ticket to Heaven</i> 1981 Canadian film

Ticket to Heaven is a 1981 Canadian drama film directed by Ralph L. Thomas and starring Nick Mancuso, Saul Rubinek, Meg Foster, Kim Cattrall, and R.H. Thomson. The plot concerns the recruiting of a man into a group portrayed to be a religious cult, and his life in the group until forcibly extracted by his family and friends. The film is based on the nonfiction book Moonwebs by Josh Freed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Corliss</span> American editor and film critic for Time magazine

Richard Nelson Corliss was an American film critic and magazine editor for Time. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects.

<i>City Heat</i> 1984 film by Richard Benjamin

City Heat is a 1984 American buddy-crime comedy film starring Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, written by Blake Edwards and directed by Richard Benjamin. The film was released in North America in December 1984.

<i>Ill Do Anything</i> 1994 film by James L. Brooks

I'll Do Anything is a 1994 American comedy-drama film written and directed by James L. Brooks. While a large part of the film is a satire of the film industry, it also skewers relationships from various angles. Its primary plot concerns a down-on-his-luck actor who suddenly finds himself the sole caretaker of his six-year-old daughter. The film starred Nick Nolte and Whittni Wright, with supporting roles filled by Albert Brooks, Julie Kavner, Joely Richardson and Tracey Ullman.

Struan Rodger is a British actor who has appeared widely in a range of supporting roles. He appeared briefly in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? in 1978 but his first major film role was as Eric Liddell's friend and running coach Sandy McGrath, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film, Chariots of Fire. His later films included Diamond Skulls (1989), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), The Madness of King George (1994), The Innocent Sleep (1996) and Stardust (2007).

<i>A Thousand Acres</i> (film) 1997 film

A Thousand Acres is a 1997 American drama film directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Robards.

<i>Bright Lights, Big City</i> (film) 1988 American film by James Bridges

Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 American tragic drama film directed by James Bridges, starring Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland, Phoebe Cates, Dianne Wiest and Jason Robards, and based on the novel by Jay McInerney, who also wrote the screenplay. It was the last film directed by Bridges, who died in 1993.

<i>The Lair of the White Worm</i> (film) 1988 British film by Ken Russell

The Lair of the White Worm is a 1988 supernatural horror comedy film written and directed by Ken Russell, and starring Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, and Peter Capaldi. Loosely based on the 1911 Bram Stoker novel of the same name, it follows the residents in and around a rural English manor that are tormented by an ancient priestess after the skull of a serpent that she worships is unearthed by an archaeologist.

<i>Kurt & Courtney</i> 1998 documentary film

Kurt & Courtney is a 1998 British documentary film by Nick Broomfield investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Kurt Cobain, and allegations of Courtney Love's involvement in it.

<i>Man on a Ledge</i> 2012 film by Asger Leth

Man on a Ledge is a 2012 American action thriller film directed by Asger Leth, starring Sam Worthington, Jamie Bell, Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns, Anthony Mackie, Genesis Rodriguez, and Ed Harris. Filming took place in New York City on top of the Roosevelt Hotel. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $47 million against its $42 million budget.

Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love is a 2008 documentary film directed by filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi that chronicles Senegalese icon Youssou N'Dour as he releases his Grammy Award-winning album Egypt and works to promote a more tolerant view of Islam. The film features musical superstar/activists Bono and Peter Gabriel. The documentary screened at festivals internationally including the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, winning numerous audience awards as well the Special Jury Prize at the Middle East International Film Festival in 2008 and a nomination for the Pare Lorentz Award at the International Documentary Association Awards in 2009. The film premiered in New York City as the opening night of Brooklyn Academy of Music's Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas Festival in 2009, and opened in theaters in the US and internationally to much acclaim. The film's soundtrack was released by Nonesuch Records in 2010.

Tank Malling is a 1989 British thriller film directed by James Marcus and starring Ray Winstone. The film was written by James Marcus and Mick Southworth.

<i>Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love</i> 2019 documentary film

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love is a 2019 documentary film directed by Nick Broomfield, about the relationship between writer and singer Leonard Cohen and his "muse" Marianne Ihlen, in particular their time spent on the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s and 1970s. She was the inspiration behind "So Long, Marianne", "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" and "Bird on the Wire".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Herzog filmography</span>

Werner Herzog is a German filmmaker whose films often feature ambitious or deranged protagonists with impossible dreams. Herzog's works span myriad genres and mediums, but he is particularly well known for his documentary films, which he typically narrates.

<i>Lies We Tell</i> 2017 British film

Lies We Tell is a 2017 British crime thriller film directed by Mitu Misra and starring Gabriel Byrne, Sibylla Deen and Harvey Keitel. It is Misra's directorial debut.

References

  1. 1 2 "15 years of production". Variety . 14 December 1998. p. 102.
  2. Barnett, Interview by Laura (11 September 2007). "Portrait of the artist: Nick Broomfield, documentary-maker". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  3. "Diamond-Skulls – Cast, Crew, Director and Awards – NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2016. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016. (slow loading, as are links)
  4. "Amanda Donohoe: A Career Built on Controversy". apnews.com. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  5. "Dark Obsession". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved 8 October 2021. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  6. Ebert, Roger. "Dark Obsession Movie Review & Film Summary (1991) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  7. "New York Times Review- Diamond Skulls; Aristocracy When It Thinks No One Is Looking". The New York Times. 17 February 2023. by Janet Maslin, 7 June 1991