The Secret Garden | |
---|---|
Directed by | Marc Munden |
Written by | Jack Thorne |
Based on | The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Lol Crawley |
Edited by | Luke Dunkley |
Music by | Dario Marianelli |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Sky |
Release dates |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million [1] |
Box office | $8.7 million [2] |
The Secret Garden is a 2020 British fantasy drama film based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the fourth film adaptation of the novel. Directed by Marc Munden and produced by David Heyman, it stars Dixie Egerickx, Colin Firth and Julie Walters. Set in 1947 England, the plot follows a young orphan who is sent to live with her uncle, only to discover a magical garden at his estate.
The Secret Garden was released via premium video on demand in the United States on 7 August 2020 by STXfilms, and opened in theatres in the United Kingdom on 23 October by Sky, who also released the film on the Sky Cinema channels on the same day.
In 1947, Mary Lennox is found abandoned in her home in British India, her parents having died from cholera and her having been forgotten in the turmoil of Partition. Mary is sent to her uncle, Lord Archibald Craven's Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire, England. She is an unpleasant, unkind young girl who has had to repress her own emotions whilst growing up in the Raj.
Upon arriving, she meets Mrs Medlock, a strict and firm lady who is Lord Craven's housekeeper and servant. Mary is instructed to not explore the house and is confined to her room at night. There, she meets Martha, a servant who is unsettled by her demands.
Mary is allowed to leave the house to explore the estate and woods nearby and stumbles upon a stray dog whom she names Jemima. Later that night, she hears tiny screams and wailings throughout the corridors only to find Lord Craven's bedridden son, Colin Craven.
The next day, Mary meets Lord Craven in his study and he tells her to not cause any trouble. Mary continues exploring and follows Jemima into the mist. When she catches up with Jemima, she finds the dog with its leg caught in a trap. She helps Jemima, freeing her from the trap but the dog runs away. Mary follows and climbs a wall and falls into the secret garden.
Mary is then guided by a Robin to a stone statue within the garden which has a key to the garden within it. She leaves the garden as Mrs Medlock calls out for her. Back at the estate, Mary meets with Colin again as he talks about having a hunchback and not being able to walk. She tells him about the garden on the estate but Colin is uninterested. Snooping around later, she finds a room with pictures of both Mary's mother and Grace Craven, and she grabs a souvenir, a pearl necklace.
The next day, Mary returns to the garden to find Dickon, who offers to help heal Jemima. Mary then brings Colin in his wheelchair for the first time to the same room with his mother's pictures and dresses. Both Mary and Dickon hatch a plan to bring Colin to the garden, hoping to heal his immobility, but upon returning, Mrs Medlock confronts Mary for stealing the pearl necklace and she is punished by being signed up for a boarding school. Later, confined and locked in her room, Mary finds letters between her mother and aunt in a rocking horse. She persuades Colin to read them and the three continue reading letters in the garden.
A depressed and distracted Lord Craven, while lighting a candle, sets the desk on fire. The next morning, Mary, Dickon and Colin are in the garden when they see black smoke coming from the house. Colin persuades Mary and Dickon to run to check it out. Mary enters the burning house to find Lord Craven frantically looking for his son in the fire. She tries in vain to convince him to escape as his son is safe outside, but he resists until the ghost of his wife guides them out safely as the fire brigade arrives. An anxious Lord Craven and Mrs Medlock go with Mary and Dickon to Colin in the secret garden. Lord Craven gazes in awe at his son's mobility as they rekindle their relationship.
The film ends with Lord Craven rebuilding the estate and Mary, Dickon and Colin having fun in the secret garden.
In 2016, Heyday Films and StudioCanal teamed up to adapt the book into a new movie version, hiring Jack Thorne to write the screenplay. [3]
In 2018, Marc Munden was set to direct. [4] Colin Firth and Julie Walters were cast in April as filming commenced at the end of that month. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
The main front façade of Misselthwaite Manor was filmed at Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire. [10]
A lot of the Misselthwaite Manor grounds filming was also done at Duncombe Park, Helmsley Walled Garden, Helmsley Castle, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Park in North Yorkshire. [11] [12] [10] The North Yorkshire Moors Railway was also used. [10] [11] [12]
Mary's parents' house in India was filmed at Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens in Abbotsbury, Dorset. [10] The pool at the house was filmed at the Indian pool of Trematon Castle in Saltash, Cornwall. [10]
Filming also took place within Iford Manor Gardens, in Westwood, Wiltshire, [13] and the Laburnam Arch of Bodnant Garden at Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy, in North Wales. [10] [14] Filming locations also included: Woodhall Estate and Knebworth House, Hertfordshire; Trebah Gardens, Cornwall; Puzzlewood and the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire; Osterley Park, Greater London; and Pinewood Studios. [10] [15]
This is the second time Colin Firth has acted in a film adaptation of The Secret Garden. The other version was released 33 years earlier, and was one of Firth's earliest films.
The Secret Garden was originally set to be released by StudioCanal UK on 3 April 2020, but two weeks before the release the date was pushed back to 14 August because of the COVID-19 pandemic. [16] [17] In August, Sky purchased the British distribution rights to the film, and released it in the United Kingdom theatrically and on the Sky Cinema channels on 23 October. [18] STX Entertainment handled the American release, distributing it via Premium VOD on 7 August. [19] Global Road Entertainment had initially acquired the North American distribution rights in May 2018, [20] but sold them to STXfilms the following year in March. [21] [22] The Secret Garden was then released on DVD and Blu-Ray by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on 6 October 2020.
The film made $139,000 in its opening weekend in Spain, finishing in second. [23]
In its debut weekend in the U.S., the film was the top-rented on Amazon Prime and fifth on FandangoNow. [24] In its second weekend the film fell to seventh on Fandango's charts. [25]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 68% of 96 reviews of the film were positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Faithful in spirit while putting its own spin on the source material, The Secret Garden adds a charming entry to the long list of this beloved book's adaptations". [26] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [27]
Dame Julia Mary Walters, known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Olivier Award.
Colin Andrew Firth is an English actor and producer. Over his career he has been the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2011, Firth was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his services to drama. That same year, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and appeared in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2011.
The Secret Garden is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in The American Magazine. Set in England, it is seen as a classic of English children's literature. The American edition was published by the Frederick A. Stokes Company with illustrations by Maria Louise Kirk and the British edition by Heinemann with illustrations by Charles Heath Robinson.
The Secret Garden is a 1993 fantasy drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland, executive-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and distributed by Warner Bros. under their Family Entertainment imprint. Starring Kate Maberly, Heydon Prowse, Andrew Knott and Maggie Smith, the film's screenplay was written by Caroline Thompson, based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It also marked the film debuts for Maberly, Prowse and Knott. The novel was previously adapted in 1919 and 1949.
The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical's script and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon. It premiered on Broadway in 1991 and ran for 709 performances.
The Secret Garden is a 1949 American drama film. It is the second screen adaptation of the classic 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The first was a silent version released in 1919. The screenplay by Robert Ardrey was directed by Fred M. Wilcox. It centers on a young orphan who is thrust into the dark and mysterious lives of her widowed uncle and his disabled son when she comes to live with them in their isolated country house in Yorkshire, England.
Back to the Secret Garden is a 2000 family fantasy film. Produced for television, the film serves as a sequel to the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame film, The Secret Garden. It contains some of the previous characters such as Lady Mary and Sir Colin Craven, who are now married, and Martha Sowerby, who is now the mistress of Misselthwaite Manor, which has become an orphanage for children whose parents died in World War II. They had appeared as children in the original story some 40 years earlier, and are now middle aged adults.
The Secret Garden is the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-television film adaptation loosely based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel The Secret Garden, aired on CBS November 30, 1987 and produced by Rosemont Productions Limited. The film stars Gennie James, Barret Oliver, Jadrien Steele, Billie Whitelaw, Michael Hordern, and Sir Derek Jacobi. It won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1988 for Outstanding Children's Program.
The Secret Garden is a 1975 British television adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel of the same name. Adapted, produced and directed by Dorothea Brooking, it was first broadcast on BBC 1 in seven 30-minute episodes. This is the only BBC adaptation of the novel known to exist in its entirety. The 1952 adaptation is missing all eight episodes and the 1960 adaptation is missing three of its eight episodes.
The Secret Garden is a lost 1919 American drama silent film directed by Gustav von Seyffertitz and written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and Marion Fairfax. The film stars Lila Lee, Spottiswoode Aitken, Clarence Geldart, Richard Rosson, Fay Holderness and Ann Malone. The film was released on January 12, 1919, by Paramount Pictures.
Anime Himitsu no Hanazono is an anime television series aired in Japan from 1991 to 1992. It is an adaptation of the 1911 novel The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Mary Poppins Returns is a 2018 American musical fantasy comedy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Loosely based on the book series Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers, the film is a sequel to the 1964 film Mary Poppins, and stars Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, with supporting roles from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, and David Warner in his final film appearance. Set in London during the Great Depression, the film sees Mary Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, return to them in the wake of the death of Michael's wife.
Marc Munden is an English film director best known for his work on Utopia, National Treasure and The Mark of Cain among others.
Paddington is a media franchise based on the character Paddington Bear, created by British author Michael Bond. The franchise began with the 2014 film of the same name. A sequel was released in 2017 and a third film went into production in 2023. The films have also spawned a TV series, and a short film. All films and TV series feature Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington.
Amir Wilson is an English actor. He played Will Parry in the HBO and BBC One series His Dark Materials, Tiuri in the Netflix series The Letter for the King, and Dickon in the 2020 film adaptation of The Secret Garden.
Mothering Sunday is a 2021 British romantic drama film directed by Eva Husson, from a screenplay by Alice Birch, based on the novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film stars Odessa Young, Josh O'Connor, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth. The film also marks the first appearance of Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson in a theatrical release in over 30 years, having last appeared in King of the Wind (1990), as well as the penultimate film role of her lifetime.
Edan Hayhurst is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Ben Yates in the British comedy-drama television series There She Goes and Colin Craven in the 2020 British fantasy drama film The Secret Garden.
The Staircase is an American biographical crime drama television miniseries created by Antonio Campos, based on the 2004 true crime docuseries of the same name created by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. The series stars Colin Firth as Michael Peterson, a writer convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen Peterson, who was found dead at the bottom of the staircase in their home. The series premiered on HBO Max on May 5, 2022.