User Reviews

Anthony Shaffer's scripts are nearly always identifiable by the way they stay cleverly one step ahead of the viewer. In his original scripts, such as The Wicker Man and Sleuth, Shaffer skilfully hides shocking and memorable twists right up to the films' conclusion. Also in his adapted scripts – such as Frenzy and Death On The Nile - Shaffer manages to generate lots of mystery and suspense before delivering his trademark surprise-solutions. However, in Absolution, a 1978 film scripted by Shaffer and directed by Anthony Page, the twists are somewhat overdone. Indeed, the film becomes positively excessive in its determination to lead the viewer up various blind alleys, in pursuit of countless red herrings. Slowly but surely credibility is strained, until it collapses altogether at the film's preposterous climax. This is a shame, as the film has an intriguing concept and contains some good performances.

At a particularly strict Catholic boarding school, a pupil named Ben Stanfield (Dominic Guard) grows fed up with his reputation as the teacher's pet of priest Father Goddard (Richard Burton). In a moment of outrageous mischief, he speaks to Father Goddard in the confession box and confesses to him that he has murdered a fellow pupil named Arthur Dyson (Dai Bradley). Goddard is understandably distraught to learn of this, more so because he is bound by duty to keep secret all confessions that are made to him. Later Goddard goes to the place where Ben claims to have buried the corpse, but discovers when he digs it up that it is merely a scarecrow and that he has been the victim of a nasty prank. The plot thickens when Ben again tells Father Goddard that he has murdered his fellow student, but this time a real body turns up. The mental strain on Goddard is immense. On one hand, he knows who the killer is, but on the other he can do nothing because his religion says that whatever is passed in confidence in a confession box must remain forever secret. Mad with despair, Goddard takes desperate measures to put a stop to these evil pranks, only to learn too late that all is not what it seems….

Burton's performance as the priest is pretty good. One must admit that the film is far-fetched and reaches a delirious, hysterical tone by the end, but throughout Burton manages to give a believable and absorbing performance. The pacing is quite good too, with a deliberately slow build-up that lures the viewer into a false sense of security before the genuinely nasty stuff gets underway. In some ways it seems churlish to criticise Shaffer's script for its twists, because they do at least keep the audience guessing, and few will predict what is coming next. But the thing that makes most of Shaffer's earlier works so effective is that the twists fit in to the overall narrative with eerie plausibility, whereas in this one they seem extremely contrived and over-the-top. I certainly don't agree with some reviewers who suggest that the film is an unmitigated disaster, and the fact that U.S distributors shelved the film for 10 years is very unfair in light of some of the absolute rubbish they release straight away. Absolution is a mid-quality audience teaser, not plausible enough to have any long-lasting resonance but tangled enough to keep its audience guessing.

This movie is somewhat hard to watch because it is slow-paced and low-budget, but the great acting by Richard Burton and the others make up for this. More importantly, it brings up a unique set of issues that other movies do not, at least not in one single movie. The effects of Father Goddard's favoritism towards apple-polishing Benji at the expense of the more intelligent Dyson. The homoerotic dynamics between Goddard/Benji, Blakey/Benji, Goddard/Dyson, and basically everyone, and the sadism of Benji towards the masochist Dyson (who ultimately is more clever). The biggest issue, more important now than ever, is how crimes can be hidden within the Catholic church which sees itself as above the law and above family/friendship, and well- meaning priests will perpetuate this, because they are inculcated that this is their highest duty. This simple yet extremely intelligent movie shows how the Catholic church can be rendered impotent to protect people because (in theory) its priests are sworn to secrecy, and may not appeal to secular police.

After a drifter moves in the woods at an all male catholic school, things take a turn for the worse. Benjie is a teachers pet, but this drifter starts to make him realize that life has more to offer than rules and regulations. Another kid Arthur is keeping Benjies secrets about the fact hes always running away and hanging out with this drifter. After being told that in confession nothing said to the priest can be repeated Benjie starts taking advantage of that. He lies about sexual encounters with the drifter and later lies about killing the drifter playing a huge joke on the head priest. Soon the priest sees the true evil in this young man and the fact his sworn secrecy of the clothe is preventing him from acting on it is driving him insane. The more we learn, the more the twists unfold to find the sins of the father are stronger than his prayers.

This was my second time watching this and I think it is truly a great movie. It was intense and shows how even the sweetest acting kiss up teachers pet can be evil and mean and it shows how an innocent nerd can sometimes be malicious as well. It has so many great characters in it and is just fun to watch.

The direction was great and I love the music. This story was great and it had some great scenes some were extremely bloody and gory and worthy of any horror fan. The acting was great. Richard Burton played his part so well and the kids Dominic Guard as Benjie and Dai Bradley as Dyson were superb. I think Billy Connely and his funny Scotish charm stole the show though, this was his film debut too.

great drama/ suspense with some great gore in a scene. I recommend it highly 6/10 stars

As a teaching priest in a British boy's academy, Richard Burton finds himself up against some calculating minds in this depressing drama. The judgments of his old school religion turns one of his prized pupils against him, claiming in confession sins of the flesh and taking it a step too far as a further part of his revenge. This is basically a variation of "The Children's Hour" with boys instead of girls, as well as a bit of "The History Boys" and various other educational stories where a teacher thought of as a mentor finds themselves in a moral crisis beyond their comprehension. By the time this hits its dramatic high point, the audience is numb from trying to comprehend what it's all about.

While Burton is fine and the young actors all believable, it's the way the story progresses that turns it upside down to make it extremely frustrating to try and follow, let alone believe. There's a passive/aggressive crippled student who goes out of his way to make the situation worse, all seemingly out of revenge towards Burton for favoring the more popular boys. The lack of real motivation makes this feel forced, a twisting path in the woods that seems to be out to attack the sacrament of absolution rather than to explain its purpose. Having had only a preview showing after completion, it was released officially years after Burton's death, sparing him the embarrassment of its quick failure.

By this time in Richard Burton's career, his level of acting wildly varied from film to film. Fortunately, in "Absolution" he gives a good performance. He is very believable as a humorless figure who sometimes acts very cruelly in the so-called belief that it is doing his students good. But he is not the only good thing about the movie. The script has a story that doesn't contain any slow spots, and slowly raises the tension as things progress. There is also a twist near the very end that will surprise some viewers, though I must admit I had a little idea that not only were things not quite what they seemed, but also that a character who appeared sporadically up to that point would have to have some play in the end since otherwise he didn't seem to have any purpose in the movie. But despite this glaring clue, the movie is well worth a look.

(There are Spoilers) Very disturbing film about a Catholic boarding school that may very well offend some viewers in its depiction of the schools Latin teacher Father Goddard, Richard Burton. It's not what Father Goddard does but how he's manipulated and later drove to the brink of madness and suicide that's so disturbing. All this while Father Goddard is trying to help one of his students Benji Stanfield, Dominic Guard, who had gone astray from the schools teachings to the point of murder.

Being looked upon as his best pupil Father Goddard has Benji set up, to all the students in his Latin class, as an example of what a good and intelligent young man should be. This has the nerdy and crippled Arthur Dyson, David Bradley, always try to hang out with Benji in order that some of his popularity with both the administrators and students in the school would rub off on himself. Benji tolerates the odd-ball Dyson up to a point but gets a bit turned off by his always, through no fault of his own, screwing things up for him in his fumbling and butterfingered ways.

It's when Benji doing his morning run, which the lame legged Dyson couldn't participate in, runs into this easy rider type hippie Blakey, Billy Connolly, that he starts to change for the worst. Blakey putting ideas into Benji's head about drugs and sex, together with his hippie girlfriend Louella(Sharon Duce), that has Father Goodard put his foot down and forbid Benji never to see Blakey again. Benji trying to mend fences with Father Goodard asks him to receives his confession which the Father reluctantly does and gets all the steamy and unholy details of his relationships with both Blakey and Louella.

Father Goddard not being able to really do anything since the things that Benji confessed to him are between him and Benji, and God, tries in a round about sort of way to get the young man back on the right track. Benji who was getting fed up with the restrictions of his Catholic faith, in how it keeps him from doing the things that he really wants to do, starts to play games with the concerned Father Goddard. Benji goes out and committing a number of horrendous acts that included the murder of his good friend Blakey, who was about to leave him. Confessing those acts, or crimes, to Father Goddard Benji knows full well that he couldn't tell the police or even have him expelled from the school.

Playing Father Goddard for a fool Benji starts to enjoy his driving the very serious and strict man almost insane. Running to where Benji told him that he buried the murdered Blakely Father Goddard only finds out that the whole story about murdering him was a joke. Later Benji again confesses that this time around he really did in fact murder Balkey and when the now almost hysterical Father Goddard goes to the place where Benji told him that Blakey was buried he indeed finds the man dead and buried! The movie then takes a sudden U-turn when it comes out, with yet another confession on Benji's part, that the lame and dejected Dyson was also a victim of Benji's insanity. These revelations drives Father Goddard over the top which is exactly what Benji was planning to do to him right from the start. Bringing Father Goddard to the brink of condemning himself, in the Catholic tradition, to eternal damnation or, in the eyes of the law, a life behind bars in either a prison or mental institution.

The movie has a very out of left field surprise ending where we see what was really behind all this manipulating of poor Father Goddards mind. This act of revenge and jealousy that went as far as driving the man to not only lose his faith and sanity but his life as well. Father Goddard demise came about by him innocently going along with those who were using him and his good will, in helping them, for their own sick selfish and ungodly purposes.

Disappointing thriller. Writer Anthony Schaeffer is obviously talented, having penned such classics of the genre as SLEUTH and THE WICKER MAN, but this film, alas, does not belong in their company.

ABSOLUTION is intriguing for an hour or so, until it takes a turn for the predictable (and thus for the tedious) from which the story never recovers. It is absurdly easy to guess who the real villain is by the 2/3 mark.

Added to which, the plot would have us believe that said villain is able to predict with almost clairvoyant certainty what other characters will do - and fail to do - in the situations he's set in motion. And at a certain point this becomes preposterous.

Finally, while the movie is well-acted, all of the characters, including Burton's, are insufferable.

So, an easy-to-spot a villain, unbelievable plot twists, and characters you despise. Only a solid first hour and fine performances save it from a lower rating.

My score: 6.

Between Anthony Page and playwright Anthony Shaffer, we can forgive this movie for feeling like more of a stage play in parts, but man, the end sure is tense and dark and I was kind of shocked by it because what's this doing on a Mill Creek fifty pack. I realize that statement is ridiculous because just about anything can be on a Mill Creek fifty pack.

Father Goddard's (Richrad Burton) favorite student at the all boys' school is Benjamin Stanfield while he despises the boy's friend Arthur Dyson and has even less use for the bum they're friends with in the woods, Blakey, who is played by a very young Billy Connolly.

The biggest mistake the priest makes is to tell his students that he can't tell the police anything that he is told under the seal of confession, which starts a series of pranks that Stanfield plays on his mentor. Or does he? The film plays fast and loose with how we see things - a Catholic giallo with no women? - and there was a lot of argument between the creatives of how much they wanted to tip their hand and how they wanted to handle the final reveal.

Producer Elliott Kastner was made aware of the script by Richard Burton, who had apparently waited several years to play the lead. He even turned down the opportunity to play King Lear on stage to be in this movie. Michael Caine and Christopher Lee had both been considered for the part.

Not only is Absolution a hard movie to find, but it also very slow moving. The acting is great and the story is great, but the director could have tried something to liven it up. All script writing books will tell you to put the first action and get the ball rolling about ten to fifteen minutes into the film, whereas in the case of Absoution, you go about halfway through the movie and realize the plot started half an hour before.

Absolution focuses on two students in a catholic school, one named Benji (Dominic Guard) and one Dyson (David Bradley). Benji is the golden boy of the school who is good at everything from sports to class, Dyson on the other hand is crippled and not too good at anything. When Father Goddard (Richard Burton) hears Benji's confession that he killed a homeless drifter named Blakey (Billy Connoly) then investigates only to find a buried scarecrow he doesn't take the next report of Blakey's murder very seriously, but this time discovers Blakey's corpse. When Goddard receives another confession that Benji has killed Dyson, he drives himself mad looking for the body until finally killing Benji, only to discover that Dyson, jealous of Benji's abilities and the favoritism shown to Dyson by Goddard, had been impersonating Benji in the confessions.

also I believe that Richard Burton's performance was great but you can't overlook Billy Connoly who is a great comedian and great actor of any genre.

Absolution - a theological term which pertains to forgiveness given out by ordained priests. And the bones of this thriller rests on this very thing, as the main dramatic thrusts of this one's narrative plays upon the restrictions that confessions put on the priest and how he cannot report criminal activity communicated in this manner to the authorities. This one was written by Anthony Shaffer, who had previously been responsible for classic films, The Wicker Man and Sleuth, as well as Hitchcock's impressive latter day effort Frenzy. This one, maybe doesn't have the narrative thrust of those, with a more indirect storyline but its certainly another Shaffer written film with many good things about it. It centres on a priest at a Catholic boy's school and his relationship with two boys in particular. One, who has a crippled leg, he openly despises, whereas the other is his undisguised favourite. The problems start when this boy befriends a free-living traveller who encourages him to rebel, leading to him playing a practical joke on his mentor by confessing to imagined sins from the confessional, which inadvertently lead to murder.

Richard Burton employs his trademark intensity in the role of the priest. The dramatic weight he brings to the table definitely benefits the movie as a whole, with the two young actors playing the boys also doing fine work. We also have an improbable acting appearance from Billy Connolly as the free spirit traveller, who is the catalyst for all the dark drama which follows. The free-living hippy vs the restrictions of Catholicism is one of the dynamics the movie plays off. As a thriller, there isn't a lot of suspense really, although there is a thoroughly unexpected - but very welcome - bit of savage violence late on in the piece where one character receives a (somewhat well deserved) shovel to the head several times! The ending is quite clever as well, with a finale in which Burton's priest finds himself somewhat check-mated from several angles. It has to be said that the characters of the priest and two boys are all somewhat unlikeable, with only Connolly's character being sympathetic at all and even he is hardly without issues - he even receives a good old fashion leathering by a couple of cops 1970's style! All-in-all, this one's well worth seeking out, although its definitely a bit oddball.