Artful? Maybe. But consider what went on to produce The Cement Garden:
When it comes time to cast the script (that he has also co-written), the director chooses his son and his niece and two other youngsters.
Put yourself in the girl's place: Your uncle is leading you through the filming of a sexually loaded screenplay (over which, as the director, he is hovering). It culminates with you nude in bed getting down to basics with your nude "brother" and don't forget the director's young son confusedly wandering about dressed like a girl.
That's what went on behind the "art."
Was it good for the kids? I doubt it. Bunny-31 (6/26/00) liked The Cement Garden, but says that you shouldn't see it with family. Small wonder she felt that way. The four sibs may be actors, but they are no different from other kids trying to make sense of a highly sexualized world.
Was it good for the director? Well, let me take a wild guess and say that children's welfare was not heavy on his mind and that there was more going on in his psyche than the art of it all.
When it comes time to cast the script (that he has also co-written), the director chooses his son and his niece and two other youngsters.
Put yourself in the girl's place: Your uncle is leading you through the filming of a sexually loaded screenplay (over which, as the director, he is hovering). It culminates with you nude in bed getting down to basics with your nude "brother" and don't forget the director's young son confusedly wandering about dressed like a girl.
That's what went on behind the "art."
Was it good for the kids? I doubt it. Bunny-31 (6/26/00) liked The Cement Garden, but says that you shouldn't see it with family. Small wonder she felt that way. The four sibs may be actors, but they are no different from other kids trying to make sense of a highly sexualized world.
Was it good for the director? Well, let me take a wild guess and say that children's welfare was not heavy on his mind and that there was more going on in his psyche than the art of it all.