Absolution (1981)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1978
Running Times: 95 mins
Format: Technicolor
Ratio:
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Elliot Kastner and Danny O'Donovan present
Copyright: © Bulldog Productions Ltd MCMLXXVIII
Executive Producers: George Pappas, Alan Cluer
Producer: Danny O'Donovan and Elliot Kastner
Associate Producer: Denis Holt
Production Supervisor: Clive Reed

SCRIPT
Screenplay by: Anthony Schaffer

DIRECTION
Directed by: Anthony Page
1st Assistant Director: Richard Hoult

PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographed by: John Coquillon
Camera Operator: Herbert Smith
Camera Focus Operator: Anthony Breeze
Electrical Supervisor: Vic Smith
Lenses and Panaflex Camera by Panavision

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: John Victor Smith
Assistant Editor: Peter Holt

MUSIC
Music Composed and Conducted by: Stanley Myers
Banjo Music by: Billy Connolly

SOUND
Sound Recordists: Peter Handford, Ken Barker
Dubbing Editor: Teddy Mason

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Costume Designer: Anne Gainsford
Make-up: Freddie Williamson
Mr Burton's Make-up: Ron Berkeley
Hairdresser: Betty Glasow

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Natasha Kroll
Assistant Art Director: Andrew Saunders
Set Dresser: Terry Parr
Construction Manager: John Paterson

OTHER CREW
Continuity: Penny Eyles
Script Assistant: Shawn Slovo
Production Assistant: Liz Kerry
Assistant to Anthony Page: Mary Clow
Assistant to Elliott Kastner: Sara Romilly
Assistant to Danny O'Donovan: Liz Mackiwicz
Assistant to Denis Holt: Sylvia Privett

LOCATIONS
Filmed on location in England and at Pinewood Studios, London, England

CASTING
Casting: Celestia Fox

CAST
Richard Burton (Father Goddard)
Dominic Guard (Benjie Stanfield)
Dai Bradley (Arthur Dyson)
Andrew Keir (the headmaster)

and
Billy Connolly as Blakey

Willoughby Gray (Brigadier Walsh)
Hilda Fenemore (Mrs Hoskins)
Sharon Duce (Louella)
Hilary Mason (Mrs Froggatt)
Robert Addie (Cawley)
Trevor Martin (Gladstone)
Robin Soans (Father Henryson)

Preston Lockwood (Father Hibbert)
James Ottaway (Father Matthews)
Brook Williams (Father Clarence)
Jon Plowman (Father Piers)
Brian Glover, Dan Meaden (police constables)
Kevin Hart (Petersen)
Philip Leake (Gregory)
Michael Crompton (O'Dowd)
Andrew Boxer, Charles Rigby, Richard Willis, Michael Bell, Michael Parkhouse, Martin Stringer, Richard Kates, Francis Fry, Martyn Hesford, Julian Firth, Clive Gehle, Tim Short (other boys)

At an English Catholic boy's school, Benjie Stanfield plays a deadly practical joke on his teacher Father Goddard. He claims, in confession, to have accidentally murdered his friend Blakey and buried his body in the nearby forest. Goddard investigates and iuncovers what seems to be a body - but is it what is seems? And can Benjie keep his joke under control and prevent it from becoming reality?

Absolution is a superb and criminally under-valued psychological thriller in the fine tradition of If... (1968) and Child's Play (1972), that was left to fester on its distributor's shelf for years before finally getting a release. A bizarre brew of violence, religion, guilt and homoeroticism, Absolution is a compelling if rather long film. Burton - who, in the mid to late-seventies seemed to play nothing but priests - is more restrained than usual and is consequently rather good as the troubled Father Goddard. The real star of the show, however, is Dai Bradley as Benji's adoring crippled friend Arthur, a controlled and measured performance that really comes into its own towards the end of the film. Despite assured direction from Page, good performances all round and a satisfyingly convoluted script from the creator of Sleuth (1972) and The Wicker Man (1973), Absolution wasn't released in the UK until 1981 and not until 1988 in the States and when it did open, it was met with an almost unanimous barrage of critical abuse. It remains however an excellent whodunit with some dark, nasty horror undertones, one that perhaps deserves a second chance.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Bulldog/Enterprise
Video Distributors: Enterprise; Home Video Productions
Laserdisc Distributor: Home Video (LVPB 032)

USA
Theatrical Distributor: TransWorld Entertainment
Video Distributors: Trans-World; Bingo; Simitar; Facets Multimedia
Laserdisc Distributor: Image (ID 6124 TW)

UK
Rating: X

USA
Rating: R

1981
November
5: UK theatrical release

1989
June
2: UK - television broadcast (on Thames)

2002
February
20: USA - television broadcast (on HBO)

Absolución - Spanish title
Absolvição - Portugese title
Murder By Confession - alternative title
Rozgrzeszenie - Polish title

MAGAZINES

Cinefantastique vol.18 no.5 (July 1988) pp.44, 45 (USA)
illustrated credits, review; illustrated article

The Dark Side December 1990 p.26 (UK)
review

Films and Filming vol.24 no.10 (July 1978) pp.8-9 (UK)
credits

Films and Filming no.328 (January 1982) p.38 (UK)
review

Halls of Horror no.27 p.16 (UK)
note

Halls of Horror no.30 p.12 (UK)
note

Hollywood Reporter vol.301 no.5 (11 February 1988) pp.3, 13 (USA)
credits, review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.48 no.575 (December 1981 p.239 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Screen International no.134 (15 April 1978) p.64 (UK)
credits

Screen International no.139 (20 May 1978) pp.13, 14 (UK)
article

Screen International no.319 (21 November 1981) p.20 (UK)
review

Sight and Sound vol.5 no.8 (August 1995) pp.28-29 (UK)
illustrated article

Variety 2 December 1981 p.16 (USA)
credits, review

Video Today March 1983 (UK)
review

BOOKS

Cult Flicks and Trash Pics p.3
credits, review

Elliott's Guide to Home Entertainment p.2
credits, review

The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film p.2
credits

Psychotronic Video Guide p.1
credits, review

Video Source Book 13th Edition (1992) Volume 1 p.8
credits

Virgin Film Yearbook 1983 p.7
credits, review

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

boarding schools, catholicism, practical jokes, priests, religion, schools, teenagers

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008