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The film is a dark tragic comedy, and a love story, which combines surreal elements, and takes place in a quiet coastal town, inhabited by elderly people and tourists. The film is comprised of a main plot and of two additional subplots, told simultaneously, and intermingling, forming the climatic end of the film.
The Main Theme concerns Brian, a widower and pensioner in his late 60’s. He is charismatic man was once a successful estate agent. He often frequents the local cemetery, to visit his deceased wife, and gradually becomes a cemetery regular, turning his visits into his social entertainment.
He be friends especially Nick the gravedigger. Being a handsome, he slowly begins to develop an obsession towards widows, and regularly attends funerals. First he meets Sarah, and later Julie, a divorcee, (a pretty women in 50's, very charming,). He soon falls in love with her but she take him for a ride and leaves him with no money and no love.
The 1st subplot is about William, a man in his 80’s, who resides at the local retirement home, not far from the cemetery, and was once a decorated British army commando, during World War II. He keeps on reliving and raving about his heroic past. He later establishes a commando unit formed from the retirement home residents, His unit starts policing and securing the retirement home and in the town.
William often frequents the garden by the cemetery to visit Veronique (a beautiful young French prostitute) where she works, because he enjoys her company - she makes him feel young.
The 2nd subplot revolves around Nick, the cemetery freelance gravedigger – in his mid 30’s, an eccentric and childish buffoon. He lives in the graveyard raising a hen named Elizabeth.
At night he moonlights as a cocaine dealer, hiding the merchandise in sex dolls, using two illegal aliens, Ombetto and Jo-Jo (black Africans teenagers that live in a shed at the graveyard), to sell the stuff to his clients at the vegetable market, while he (NICK) is suiting Veronique at the graveyard.
On a night of celebration (The town's festival day), a night of music, fireworks and plenty of alcohol and good spirit, William visits Veronique at the cemetery, a bit drunk after having a celebration at the retirement home and they find a quiet corner. William tries very hard to get a orgasm, but doesn’t succeed, so he breaks down, crying and begging. Veronique’s efforts to help comfort him are in vain, as his breathing gets heavier and heavier. Meanwhile, Nick the gravedigger passes by on a nearby path holding a large sex doll, with Elizabeth the hen close by. In light of this spectacle, William panics, starts screaming and stops breathing. An agitated Veronique, asks Nick for help, so he runs to the to get 2 African guys Ombetto and Jo-Jo, who come to rescue William with a wheelbarrow, when suddenly 2 homosexuals pass nearby and are recruited to the rescue mission, pushing the wheelbarrow with William towards the exit, when Nick notices Brian, shirtless, holding a bottle of scotch, crying by his wife’s grave, regretting his betrayals. Nick calls Brian to join the merry group, which combines laughter, crying, hope and hysteria. In the midst of this racket, drunken Veronique begins singing French chansons (Edith Piaf) and the whole drunken delirious group joins in, with the skies blazing with fireworks and festive music playing from the nearby houses. through the towns’ main street, when Nick’s dolls bursts open and all of the cocaine starts pouring on everybody; suddenly, William awakens and starts singing World War II victory songs and everyone laughs and cries ecstatically. |