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Still Life stars Eddie Marsan as John May, a council worker who looks for relatives of the deceased and arranges paupers funerals in the absence of anyone else, as well as the scattering of ashes for cremations. His job also entails going into the homes of the deceased, searching for a link to their past in order to find potential relatives.
John works in a very solitary fashion, rarely communicating with anyone else – rather unlike the modern offices of today which are all open plan. He’s very prim and proper and does things to exacting standards, and only refers to colleagues as Mr and Mrs, rather than their first name. He’s rare in that he’s an old-fashioned man with a kind heart, living in a modern world which doesn’t care.
Unfortunately, for him, the council’s new round of “efficiency savings” means he’s out on his ear. I could argue that that is something which would happen only in a private company and not a public sector one like a County Council wherer they would offer redundancy packages on a voluntary basis, but anyway…
Having lost my father in January, although he had a family to deal with all his affairs after he passed away, it did make me wonder what things would have been like if he hadn’t. No doubt, a complete stranger like John May would’ve been going through his effects. It’s quite depressing to know that what’s on screen is also how some people would have lived, but that evokes a more powerful drama as a result and it’s one that no doubt will have been inspired by personal tales, also giving us an insight how some people must’ve lived.
In fact, Still Life is a bit reminiscent of BBC1’s Heir Hunters, when they try to match money left behind with relatives of the deceased, although the difference is that John dealing more with funeral matters.
Although mostly a single-hander, there’s good support from the lovely Joanne Froggatt as Kelly, the daughter of one of the deceased, as well as Karen Drury – best known for playing foxy MILF Susannah Farnham in Brookside – later, as the Mary in “Mary’s Plaice” (a fish & chip shop), and she proves that at nearly 57, she’s still got it! Sadly, neither of them are in it as much as I’d like, and you get the impression from the publicity that Ms Froggatt is in it more than she is.
If I had a moan, it’s that it’s not that believeable how John would travel the length and breadth of the country to find relatives, since surely there would be cross-office support and a case could be referred on to find someone, especially to somoene who would know the local area far better. But this is the movie world 🙂
There are also some elements to which show John’s a bit on the strange side, but to go into detail would be a spoiler.
Safe to say that Eddie Marsan consolidates his role as one of Britain’s finest actors in this role, where he gives a very understated performance, but he plays a character with whom who you’d really want to go for a pint.
Quite easily, Still Life is one of the best films I have seen so far this year.
Go to page 2 for the presentation and the extras.
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and in anamorphic widescreen, and I rarely review DVDs but this was a film I wanted to see from when I first heard about the premise and the cast, and I feel that Artificial Eye have really missed a trick by not releasing it on Blu-ray because it is a wonderful film. As such, watching this DVD on a 50″ Panasonic Plasma TV, the image is a little soft as you’d expect, but there are no issues with the print.
The audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1, and you can presume right that there’s not going to be any split-surround action here, but the general atmosphere, including birds tweeting (not on their phones, kids!), is easy to relax into, and the dialogue is clear.
The extras are as follows:
- The Making Of Still Life (5:57): On-set filming, but too short to be particularly insightful.
- Interviews: One with Eddie Marsan (12:46), Joanne Froggatt (12:55) and writer/director Uberto Pasolini (34:54). Interestingly, Eddie confirms that there’s just one funeral officer in each council who goes about looking for relatives of the dead, and that they work individually. I would’ve thought there’d be a team. Joanne is asked some similar questions, but relating more to her character, whilst continuing to light up the room wih her smile.
All three interviews are broken up with 3 or 4 chapters, depending on how long they last, as they go on for a decent length.
- Trailer (2:00): In the original 1.85:1 theatrical ratio.
Sadly, there are no subtitles on this release which is very amiss, and not what I would expect from Artificial Eye, who hae always aimed towards the discerning film buff. As such, I had to rewind the dialogue a few times, especially when the homeless men were mumbling, and I still couldn’t quite get what they said.
Chapters are a bog-standard 12. I feel one should come every five minutes on average. A lot of distributors go for a low 12 however long the film. Artificial Eye’s chaptering tends to vary from disc to disc. Unfortunately, here, it’s just the same old 12, even it is for a relatively short 89 minutes.
The menu features clips from the film alongside incidental music from the film.
Still Life is out now on DVD, and click on both the packshot above, and the poster below, for the larger versions.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
9 8 7 4 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 89 minutes
Year: 2014
Released: April 13th 2015
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1.85:1 Anamorphic widescreen
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Digital Intermediate (4K))
Disc Format: DVD9
Director: Uberto Pasolini
Producer: Uberto Pasolini, Christopher Simon and Felix Vossen
Screenplay: Uberto Pasolini
Music: Philip Glass
Cast:
John May: Eddie Marsan
Kelly Stoke: Joanne Froggatt
Mary: Karen Drury
Mr Pratchett: Andrew Buchan
Shakthi: Neil D’Souza
Billy Stokes’ Caretaker: David Shaw Parker
Caretaker: Michael Elkin
Jumbo: Ciaran McIntyre
Homeless Man: Tim Potter
Homeless Man: Paul Anderson
Morgue Attendant: Bronson Webb
Crematorium Attendant: Leon Silver
Prison Officer: Lloyd McGuire
Garry: Wayne Foskett
Lucy: Hebe Beardsall
Lover Girl: Rosie Kosky-Hensman
Young Soldier: Frankie Wilson
Serving Girl: Rose-Marie Christian
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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