Charlotte (Maxine Peake) has devoted her life to her career and is disgusted when she discovers that she has been passed up for promotion. As a result of this she quits her job on the grounds of constructive dismissal. When she arrives home, she vents her anger out on her cleaner Maya whom Charlotte catches smoking in her apartment (despite Charlotte giving Maya a previous warning about not smoking in her apartment). Following an altercation between Charlotte and Maya, Charlotte's life takes a darker turn setting off a chain reaction of events that see her life spiralling out of control.
In the main Keeping Rosy is a pretty decent film - it has a sense of foreboding tension that makes it the sort of film that you don't want to take your eyes away from. That being said it is a film that does require some suspension of disbelief in order to be able to truly enjoy it - such as Charlotte managing to drag her cleaner's body in a sleeping bag out of her apartment, into a lift and out into the car park without anyone seeing? Possible? Yes... Likely? No. It seemed strange that you never really saw anyone in the apartments where Charlotte lived and yet the car park was always full of vehicles? It also seemed strange that Charlotte seemed to forget that her apartment complex had CCTV cameras and was only reminded of this when her sister saw her drop a box on her way into the apartment. Even if you never look at your CCTV cameras you'll know they are there as there are always signs telling you that there are CCTV cameras in areas where they are installed so it seemed unlikely that she would forget that the cameras were there. Anyway these are minor gripes and don't take away from the tension that exists on screen.
The film bogs down a little in the middle of the film when essentially we're just seeing Charlotte looking after her dead cleaner's child. If I'm honest not much happens in this section and whilst it's presumably included as an insight into Charlotte trying to cope with looking after someone other than herself it did slow the picture down somewhat and much of it felt a little unnecessary.
The film picks up again in the second half when Charlotte's sister Sarah (Christine Bottomley) comes to visit her and she brings home Roger (Blake Harrison) who happens to be the guy who works for the company that monitor the CCTV cameras. The story takes a predictable turn when Roger blackmails Charlotte by telling her he'll destroy the CCTV evidence of her committing the crime if Charlotte pays him £30,000. Despite the predictable turn of events here the picture still held my interest, but this is mainly thanks to a terrific turn from Blake Harrison. To be honest I've only ever seen him as Neil in The Inbetweeners and to see him play a character that at once is helpful and genuine to a callous opportunist that is prepared to cover up a crime for his own financial gain is a showcase of his talents. He was quite terrifying at times and for the most part made me forget about the wobbly screenplay. The likes of Christine Bottomley and Maxine Peake were also good, but it's Blake Harrison that was the real surprise and it was his performance I remembered the most when the film ended.
The end of the film is probably another one of those that may divide audiences. On the one hand you could look at it as being a bit of a cop-out and a lazy way to end the film. On the other hand you could look at as both Charlotte and Roger getting what they deserved as neither of them did the right thing in the first place. I can see arguments for both answers, but I think what lets the film down slightly is the lazy way it left so many loose ends untied and for that reason I'm more inclined to go with the first answer.
On the whole, and despite the questionable ending and some questionable aspects within the plot I did enjoy this film. It grinds a bit in the middle, but the simmering tension in the second half and the strong performances from the cast make it worth the effort.
In the main Keeping Rosy is a pretty decent film - it has a sense of foreboding tension that makes it the sort of film that you don't want to take your eyes away from. That being said it is a film that does require some suspension of disbelief in order to be able to truly enjoy it - such as Charlotte managing to drag her cleaner's body in a sleeping bag out of her apartment, into a lift and out into the car park without anyone seeing? Possible? Yes... Likely? No. It seemed strange that you never really saw anyone in the apartments where Charlotte lived and yet the car park was always full of vehicles? It also seemed strange that Charlotte seemed to forget that her apartment complex had CCTV cameras and was only reminded of this when her sister saw her drop a box on her way into the apartment. Even if you never look at your CCTV cameras you'll know they are there as there are always signs telling you that there are CCTV cameras in areas where they are installed so it seemed unlikely that she would forget that the cameras were there. Anyway these are minor gripes and don't take away from the tension that exists on screen.
The film bogs down a little in the middle of the film when essentially we're just seeing Charlotte looking after her dead cleaner's child. If I'm honest not much happens in this section and whilst it's presumably included as an insight into Charlotte trying to cope with looking after someone other than herself it did slow the picture down somewhat and much of it felt a little unnecessary.
The film picks up again in the second half when Charlotte's sister Sarah (Christine Bottomley) comes to visit her and she brings home Roger (Blake Harrison) who happens to be the guy who works for the company that monitor the CCTV cameras. The story takes a predictable turn when Roger blackmails Charlotte by telling her he'll destroy the CCTV evidence of her committing the crime if Charlotte pays him £30,000. Despite the predictable turn of events here the picture still held my interest, but this is mainly thanks to a terrific turn from Blake Harrison. To be honest I've only ever seen him as Neil in The Inbetweeners and to see him play a character that at once is helpful and genuine to a callous opportunist that is prepared to cover up a crime for his own financial gain is a showcase of his talents. He was quite terrifying at times and for the most part made me forget about the wobbly screenplay. The likes of Christine Bottomley and Maxine Peake were also good, but it's Blake Harrison that was the real surprise and it was his performance I remembered the most when the film ended.
The end of the film is probably another one of those that may divide audiences. On the one hand you could look at it as being a bit of a cop-out and a lazy way to end the film. On the other hand you could look at as both Charlotte and Roger getting what they deserved as neither of them did the right thing in the first place. I can see arguments for both answers, but I think what lets the film down slightly is the lazy way it left so many loose ends untied and for that reason I'm more inclined to go with the first answer.
On the whole, and despite the questionable ending and some questionable aspects within the plot I did enjoy this film. It grinds a bit in the middle, but the simmering tension in the second half and the strong performances from the cast make it worth the effort.