On the anniversary of his father’s death, a boy navigates a journey through grief within the family’s crumbling manor house, with visions and dreams ushering a past generation into his present day. A piece of pure gothic magic realism.
Synopsis
A grand mansion rots. Its inhabitants are an aristocratic family who have, like their house, fallen from grace. The father has mysteriously died. Buried in an unmarked grave in the garden, nobody has bothered to empty the bathwater in which he drowned. The mother is in a perpetual state of grief, unmoving from her bed. The last sign of life comes from the son, whose feral solitude is transcended through a rich innocence and imagination.
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This story takes place on the desolate plains of a remote English estate, where a grand mansion rots in isolation. Its inhabitants are an aristocratic family of three who have, like their house, fallen from grace. The father has mysteriously died, appearing to have drowned in the bath. He is buried in an unmarked grave in the garden and nobody has bothered to empty the tub of his bathwater. The mother is in a perpetual state of grief, withered and unmoving from her bed. The last sign of life comes from the son, an only child, whose feral solitude is transcended through a rich innocence and imagination. Set over one day, on the anniversary of his father’s death, the son is confronted with a sudden curiosity for his past and uses his newly bestowed ‘master key’ to unlock the secrets hiding within the house.
