{"id":517272,"date":"2026-06-03T23:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T23:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/517272\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T23:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T23:23:12","slug":"savage-house-review-richard-e-grant-claire-foy-and-much-boozing-humping-and-double-dealing-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/517272\/","title":{"rendered":"Savage House review: Richard E Grant, Claire Foy and much boozing, humping and double dealing \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Savage House<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d8 \ue9d7 \ue9d7<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Director:<\/strong> Peter Glanz<\/p>\n

Cert:<\/strong> 15A<\/p>\n

Starring:<\/strong> Richard E Grant, Sebastian Armesto, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Dominic Charman, Michael Culkin<\/p>\n

Running Time:<\/strong> 1 hr 54 mins<\/p>\n

What in heaven is this thing? More than anything else, Savage House feels like an elaborate, if mid-priced, tribute to Stanley Kubrick<\/a>\u2019s immortal film<\/a> Barry Lyndon. All the elements are in place. A sardonic faux-literary voiceover from Robert Bathurst. Rakes abroad in the 18th century. Framing in the style of contemporaneous oil painting. Pounding classical music. A compromised duel on damp land. All that\u2019s missing is a stirring blast of The Chieftains. <\/p>\n

One is tempted to suggest that, beneath the shallow surface, Savage House shares as much spiritual stuffing with Barry Lyndon as Spaceballs does with 2001: A Space Odyssey, but that would be (a little) unfair to Peter Glanz\u2019s gangrenous black comedy. Though ultimately a tad one-dimensional, the film cannot be faulted for its commitment to the bit.<\/p>\n

Richard E Grant<\/a> is not much stretched as Sir Chauncey Savage, an ageing rou\u00e9 married to the younger and, at least initially, wealthier Lady Savage (Claire Foy<\/a>). If you still enjoy Grant raising many a glass with a hopeful \u201cchin-chin!\u201d you will get more than your fill. <\/p>\n

Over the years Sir Chauncey has, despite the use of loaded dice, gambled away almost all available capital. He has also sold land surrounding the Savage pile more than once to neighbours who are now getting wind of the shabby deception. Lady Savage is having affair with a servant. Her husband would be even busier in that direction were he not hindered by creeping gout. <\/p>\n

When possible salvation comes with the news that the duke and duchess of Devonshire might be coming to dinner, the couple risk all in the preparation of a grand feast.<\/p>\n

Working cannily within their budget, the film-makers deliver a good-looking slab of period fodder. Adriano Goldman, cinematographer on Cary Joji Fukunaga\u2019s films Sin Nombre and Jane Eyre, makes a virtue of the barely illuminated Georgian corners. A top-flight range of supporting actors flesh out the supporting roles with lip-smacking relish.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the film takes too long to get to a destination \u2013 a festering hive of human corruption \u2013 that\u2019s inevitable given the first 20 minutes of boozing, humping and double dealing. The dialogue feels inauthentic. The decadence is forced. Nothing about this is very much fun. Mr Barry Lyndon need not beware.<\/p>\n

In cinemas from Friday, June 5th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Savage House \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d8 \ue9d7 \ue9d7 Director: Peter Glanz Cert: 15A Starring: Richard E Grant, Sebastian Armesto,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[26675,18,117,19,17,327,11259,103864],"class_list":["post-517272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-claire-foy","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-richard-e-grant","tag-stanley-kubrick"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116688755565952114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}