Gothic and grand is the beginning of this tale about an enterprise. The patriarch Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness has died. In one unforgettable scene, an undertaker fixes the smile on the corpse of the old Guinness before the body is placed in a hearse. But the burial is not going to be easy for the Fenians as the Irish Republican Brotherhood is known to not allow the funeral procession to pass quietly.
But the Guinness family is complete. There is Arthur, recently back from London; Edward, the second son who has taken a more responsible position in the brewery; Anne, confident but married; and the troubled, alcoholic Benjamin.
Among the workers in the brewery, Rafferty is the loyal henchman who will see to it that the funeral proceeds quietly even if he has to use a kind of force; after all, the old man has made the lives of these workers more pleasant and it is their supreme duty to see to it that path to heaven be secure at least for the father.
The Fenians assume that with the death of the older Guinness, the empire is crumbling apart. Who would have thought that there was more to this brewery than mere bottling.
As the story unfolds, the two brothers, Arthur and Edward, have firmed up their plans even as the will had not yet been read. The more astute of the two, Edward has already offered to buy the shares of the brewery from Arthur, given that the latter would not be interested in running the enterprise. It seems they knew beforehand that, given the youngest brother’s addiction, he would not be given responsibility in the brewery.
There are deeper secrets. One is the affair that Anne has with Rafferty. But more delicate than this is the case of Arthur. In that genteel scene at the park where he walks around and finds himself chatting with a ‘gentleman,’ we are immediately led into his life as a closeted homosexual.
This is one most interesting linchpin in the story-what to do with Arthur and his proclivities, given the moral code of the era. As he will need to run for the parliament to take the place of this departed father, he will need to present himself as ‘normal’ as the next person. This means that he needs to marry. At this point, their aunt and sister will be engaged to find the suitable partner for Arthur in a marriage that is described as a lavender union or ‘a mariage blanc’-a marriage that is not consummated.
Indeed, Arthur finds a ‘lady’ who concedes to this arrangement. To complicate the matter, Edward has become a forward-thinking entrepreneur introducing reforms in the brewery, including offering a pension for those retiring. More than that, Edward extends his goodwill to the ‘Fenian’ woman, an extremely radical move that moves his brother to tears and despair.
With a color palette out to rival any kind of chiaroscuro available for camera lenses, House of Guinness is a handsome package of a cinema. From that scene with a hearse being pelted by the mob to the post-funeral dance, the energy of the scenes are at turn stately, macabre, and majestic.
It’s the Gilded Age with lots of soot; an era of gaslight and gaslighting.
The cast is stellar. As Anne Plunket nee Guinness, Emily Fairn addresses her siblings with those doe eyes that could be docile and yet duplicitous. She is vulnerable only insofar as she would allow herself to be. Walking through the countless graves in a castle town she is fated to visit, Anne allows us to see what perhaps her brothers in their privilege never see.
As Benjamin, Fionn O’Shea with his curly locks all but covering his face is a tragic figure waiting to happen. In the wedding dance, he seems to find himself with a woman not meant for him at all.
An interesting character in the story is Rafferty, the security for Guinness. He is played by James Norton, a stocky man out to fulfil the needs of other women. Again, during the wedding night of Arthur, Rafferty gazes at the bride and you can almost guess where these glances are going to bring these characters to.
As the two brothers, Anthony Boyle and Louis Partridge as Arthur and Edward, respectively, are a joy to watch. Even if they are conflicted or debating against each other, we know they are two peas in a pod. They can never be separated. Deep within, they understand each other-the devil in each other’s heart, or the goodness in those eyes. The audience-and the fans-will forever talk about the shameless frontal done by Boyle. In interviews, he talks about how he denied the use of prosthetics because he wanted to show the prowess of his character. Watch the scene and be amazed.
As for Partridge, he is breathtakingly patrician that we can imagine him to be almost like the rotogravure photo of a Barrymore. He can stand in the shadow and that is all that is needed to drive home the point of savvy and pomp.
Let’s not forget Ellen Cochrane, the Fenian woman, as essayed by the lovely Niam McCormack.
House of Guinness was created by Steven Knight. Written by Steven Knight, it is directed by Tom Shankland and Mounia Aki. The steampunk music is by Ilan Eskeri. The film is produced for Netflix by Kudos.