The Cement Garden(1993)

After their mother (Sinéad Cusack) dies from an undisclosed illness -presumably cancer-, the situation of the four siblings turns grim and uncertain. Despite the efforts of the two eldest ones, Jack (Andrew Robertson) and Julie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), to act as parental figures, the mental state of the two younger ones -Tom (Ned Birkin) and Sue (Alice Coulthard)- progressively deteriorates.

At the same time, Julie attracts the attention of an older man called Derek (Jochen Horst) -much to Jack’s dismay and jealousy-, who eventually finds himself wondering what is hidden in the basement. When Derek finds the cement block -the one the siblings entombed the corpse of their mother in, so it wouldn’t be known she died and they wouldn’t be broken apart-, Jack tries to cover up that “a dead dog is in it”, but drops hints of his mother.

In a rather unsettling sequence, the four siblings wind up naked in Julie’s bedroom; Sue and Tom in the crib, while Julie and Jack lie on Julie’s bed. The two younger ones sleep, while the older ones discuss how it seems inevitable that the truth about what has happened in their household becomes known and authorities intervene, since Derek already knows.

Derek comes in and finds them together in bed, cuddling like lovers; horrified, he briefly confronts Julie about it but, then, walks off. Julie reassures Jack that she’s never had feelings for Derek and they both agree that “what is going on feels natural to them both” (their incestuous romantic feelings for each other, that is). They engage in passionate sexual intercourse while Derek can be heard trying to break through the cement block.

The final image shows Jack and Julie asleep by each other, while blue lights shine through the room; the movie ends, implying that the siblings have been denounced and discovered and will be forced out of the house and, perhaps, into foster care.