Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

moonspinner55 British middle-agers with a handicapped daughter invite into their home a strange young man who holds a curious power over the family. Sting (then the lead singer and bassist of The Police) gives a commendable starring performance--his first lead--in this Dennis Potter concoction based upon Potter's own play (originally taped--and banned--by the BBC). Writing like a mischievous child, and aiming for lofty subtext and ironic turns of the screw, Potter doesn't always get the affects he's aiming for, but neither does he disappoint. Director Richard Loncraine doesn't struggle too noticeably getting this peculiar material off the dime (and out from the main set), and his build-up to the foregone conclusion is rife with interesting, twisted bits of business. Not a barn-burner by any means, but a handsome, calculated work in a minor, somewhat derivative key. **1/2 from ****

stang-creativitree This is a movie from 1982. Just bought it and thoroughly like it. It is a psychological thriller, which at some level is disturbing, but I found it interesting. The character Martin (Sting) approaches Tom Bates (D. Elliot)and tries to suggest they knew each other in an attempt to get closer to him and extract something, perhaps money. Mr. Bates abandons Martin in town, but later that evening Martin shows up as he has lifted the wallet of Mr. Bates, with his home address, money, credit cards. The money ends up "missing" and Martin portrays himself as the good samaritan to return the wallet. Mr. Bates doesn't trust Martin, but his wife, Norma, takes to the kindly young man who professes to know their sickly daughter, from Art School a few years earlier. Martin, the drifter, or perhaps an escapee from a mental institution, is seen as a devil but ultimately saves the family from its hidden secrets and releases all of them. Sting was great in the role of Martin, in my opinion, sometimes angel and sometimes demented. I looked up the meaning of Treacle in the dictionary - it is a remedy. So Martin ends up saving the family, he is the remedy to their nightmares. Interesting.

Raegan Butcher I saw this when it was fresh on video and it is weird. Like TRACK 29 by Nicolas Roeg is weird. Both films have screenplays by the irrepressibly strange (God bless him) Dennis Potter; This one has 2 heavyweights of the British theater, Denholm Elliot and Joan Plowright, and a thoroughly convincing STING as ...what? An evil sprite? The devil himself? watch it and try to come to your own conclusion; that is the pleasure of this odd little gem.Richard Loncraine has style to burn and he fills the screen with expertly crafted compositions and he has a nice tendency to use slightly wide-angle lenses to make everyday objects take on a malevolent aspect; he knows how to shoot STING, in order to make him look sinister, that is for sure. Bravo.Over the years I have shown this to many different people and it always captivates them and holds their attention from the first frame to the last. I would have to say this is my favorite of anything Dennis Potter has written to hit the cinema screens,so far. He is a difficult artist do do justice to, but BRIMSTONE & TREACLE delivers the goods,in spades. Its darkly funny and also thoroughly squirm-inducing in places. The acting is all first rate; Denholm Elliot is magnificent as the repressed and domineering husband; he projects a marvelous sense of twitchy hostility and discomfort; watching him agonize is one of the films strange pleasures. And Sting is fantastic. I think a lot of people here on the IMDb are being unfair to him because of his pop stardom, but I think he delivers an excellent performance, full of sly menace and sinister charm.

jlaw The film is re-make of a television play which the BBC chose not to transmit because of its controversial subject matter, in particular the final sequence of rape. This version which received a cinema release, appeared 6 years later, and included one member of the original cast, Denholm Elliot.The central role of Martin was re-cast with Sting (then lead singer with The Police) who also provided music material, including his first solo single Spread A Little Happiness. (Michael Nyman also provided soundtrack material.)The script remains largely faithful to the original screenplay, though several minutes of discourse in one of the final scenes is excised completely. This is a discussion of racism which provokes Mr Bates to retract from his outspoken racist views.The original TV play is set mostly within the confines of a living room, while thebigger-budget movie is less restricted, and has a Gothic, sinister atmosphere. References to Martin's diabolical nature are more subtle too – the TV play shows Martin with hairy, clawed feet. The closing scene of the film suggests that Martin may have been caught out (by an angel – or devil?), while the TV play implies that his actions within the Bates household are just one of many continuing abuses on a never-ending cycle.