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''The Secret Garden'' is a 2020 British
fantasy drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
film based on the 1911 novel of the same name by
Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little  ...
, the fourth film adaptation of the novel. Directed by
Marc Munden Marc Munden is an English film director best known for his work on ''Utopia'', '' National Treasure'' and '' The Mark of Cain'' among others. Early life Munden was born in London, England. His father, Maxwell Munden, was a filmmaker who made film ...
and produced by
David Heyman David Jonathan Heyman (born 26 July 1961) is a British film producer and the founder of Heyday Films. Heyman secured the rights to the ''Harry Potter'' film series in 1999 and went on to produce all eight installments of the franchise. He also ...
, it stars Dixie Egerickx, Colin Firth, and
Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...
. Set in 1947 England, the plot follows a young orphan who is sent to live with her uncle, only to discover a magical garden at his estate. ''The Secret Garden'' was released via
premium video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
in the United States on 7 August 2020 by STXfilms, and opened in theatres in the United Kingdom on 23 October by
Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...
, who also released the film on the
Sky Cinema Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema o ...
channels on the same day.


Plot

In 1947, Mary Lennox is found abandoned in her home in
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, her parents having died from cholera and her having been forgotten in the turmoil of
Partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...
. Mary is sent to her uncle, Lord Archibald Craven's Misselthwaite Manor in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. She is an unpleasant, unkind young girl who has had to repress her own emotions whilst growing up in the Raj. Upon arriving, she meets Mrs Medlock, a strict and firm lady who is Lord Craven's housekeeper and servant. Mary is instructed to not explore the house and is confined to her room at night. There, she meets Martha, a servant who is unsettled by her demands. Mary is allowed to leave the house to explore the estate and woods nearby and stumbles upon a stray dog whom she names Jemima. Later that night, she hears tiny screams and wailings throughout the corridors only to find Lord Craven's bedridden son, Colin Craven. The next day, Mary meets Lord Craven in his study and he tells her to not cause any trouble. Mary continues exploring through the forest and finds a hidden garden by climbing a wall. Later, on the way home, she calls out to Martha's brother Dickon who fades within the mist of the moors. Later she finds Jemima's leg caught in a trap. She helps Jemima, freeing her from the trap but the dog runs away into the garden. So, Mary continues to explore. Mary is then guided by a Robin to a stone statue within the garden which has a key to the garden within it. She leaves the garden as Mrs Medlock calls out for her. Back at the estate, Mary meets with Colin again as he talks about having a hunchback and not being able to walk. She tells him about the garden on the estate but Colin is uninterested. Snooping around later, she finds a room with pictures of both Mary's mother and Grace Craven, and she grabs a souvenir, a pearl necklace. The next day, Mary returns to the garden to find Dickon, who offers to help heal Jemima. Mary then brings Colin in his wheelchair for the first time to the same room with his mother's pictures and dresses. Both Mary and Dickon hatch a plan to bring Colin to the garden, hoping to heal his immobility, but upon returning, Mrs Medlock confronts Mary for stealing the pearl necklace and she is punished by being signed up for a boarding school. Later, confined and locked in her room, Mary finds letters between her mother and aunt in a rocking horse. She persuades Colin to read them and the three continue reading letters in the garden. A depressed and distracted Lord Craven, while lighting a candle, sets the desk on fire. The next morning, Mary, Dickon and Colin are in the garden when they see black smoke coming from the house. Colin persuades Mary and Dickon to run to check it out. Mary enters the burning house to find Lord Craven frantically looking for his son in the fire. She tries in vain to convince him to escape as his son is safe outside, but he resists until the ghost of his wife guides them out safely as the fire brigade arrives. An anxious Lord Craven and Mrs Medlock go with Mary and Dickon to Colin in the secret garden. Lord Craven gazes in awe at his son's mobility as they rekindle their relationship. The film ends with Lord Craven rebuilding the estate and Mary, Dickon and Colin having fun in the secret garden.


Cast

* Dixie Egerickx as Mary Lennox * Colin Firth as Lord Archibald Craven *
Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...
as Mrs. Medlock * Edan Hayhurst as Colin Craven *
Amir Wilson Amir Ahmad Wilson (born 6 February 2004) is an English actor. He played Will Parry in the HBO and BBC One series ''His Dark Materials'', Tiuri in the Netflix series '' The Letter for the King'', and Dickon in the 2020 film adaptation of '' The ...
as Dickon * Isis Davis as Martha *
Maeve Dermody Maeve Dermody ( ; born 2 November 1985) is a UK-based Australian actress. After a film appearance at 5 years old, her adult acting career has included work in Australian and British television, theatre, short films, and movies. She characterises ...
as Alice


Production

In 2016, Heyday Films and
StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...
teamed up to adapt the book into a new movie version, hiring
Jack Thorne Jack Thorne FRSL (born 6 December 1978) is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for writing the stage play '' Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', the films '' Wonder'' and '' Enola Holmes'', ...
to write the screenplay. In 2018,
Marc Munden Marc Munden is an English film director best known for his work on ''Utopia'', '' National Treasure'' and '' The Mark of Cain'' among others. Early life Munden was born in London, England. His father, Maxwell Munden, was a filmmaker who made film ...
was set to direct. Colin Firth and
Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...
were cast in April as filming commenced at the end of that month. The main front facade of the estate house was filmed at Harlaxton manor in Lincolnshire. Some of the film was filmed in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
. Filming has also taken place within
Iford Manor Iford Manor () is a manor house in Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building sitting on the steep, south-facing slope of the Frome valley, in Westwood parish, about southwest of the town of Bradford-on-Avon. Its Grade I registered ...
Gardens, near Bath and the National Trust site of
Bodnant Garden Bodnant Garden ( cy, Gardd Bodnant) is a National Trust property near Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy, Wales, overlooking the Conwy Valley towards the Carneddau mountains. Founded in 1874 and developed by five generations of one family, it was given to th ...
, near Conwy, North Wales. Filming locations also included:
Woodhall Estate Heath Mount School is a Church of England co-educational independent prep school near Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, England. It admits pupils aged 3 to 13. It was founded as Heath Mount Academy in Hampstead in 1796. In 1934 it was relocated to ...
, Hertfordshire; Trebah Gardens, Cornwall,
Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens The Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens is a visitor attraction near the village of Abbotsbury, Dorset, southern England.Kelly, J. Abbotsbury Gardens'', 1984 They are Grade I listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The garden o ...
,
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
;
Puzzlewood Puzzlewood () is an ancient woodland site and tourist attraction, near Coleford in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. The site, covering , shows evidence of open-cast iron ore mining dating from the Roman period, and possibly ear ...
,
Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to ...
; Helmsley Walled Garden in North Yorkshire; and Pinewood Studios. This is the second time Colin Firth has acted in a film adaptation of ''The Secret Garden''. The other version was released 33 years earlier, and was one of Firth's earliest films.


Release

''The Secret Garden'' was originally set to be released by
StudioCanal UK StudioCanal Limited, operating as StudioCanal (formerly Optimum Releasing), is the official branch of StudioCanal in the British Isles. The company releases many films, including foreign, anime (mostly Studio Ghibli), independent, art, Britis ...
on 3 April 2020, but two weeks before the release the date was pushed back to 14 August because of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. In August,
Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...
purchased the British distribution rights to the film, and released it in the United Kingdom theatrically and on the
Sky Cinema Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema o ...
channels on 23 October. STX Entertainment handled the American release, distributing it via Premium VOD on 7 August.
Global Road Entertainment Open Road Films, LLC (formerly Global Road Entertainment from 2017 to 2018) is an American film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Eric Hohl on March 26, 2011 as a joint venture between the t ...
had initially acquired the North American distribution rights in May 2018, but sold them to STXfilms the following year in March. ''The Secret Garden'' was then released on DVD and Blu-Ray by
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
on 6 October 2020.


Reception


Box office and VOD

The film made $139,000 in its opening weekend in Spain, finishing in second. In its debut weekend in the U.S., the film was the top-rented on Amazon Prime and fifth on FandangoNow. In its second weekend the film fell to seventh on Fandango's charts.


Critical response

Review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported that of reviews of the film were positive, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "Faithful in spirit while putting its own spin on the source material, ''The Secret Garden'' adds a charming entry to the long list of this beloved book's adaptations". On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Garden, The 2020 films 2020 drama films 2020 fantasy films 2020s fantasy drama films British fantasy drama films Films based on American novels Films shot in Ripon Films shot in York Films shot in North Yorkshire Films shot in Yorkshire Films shot in the United Kingdom Films scored by Dario Marianelli Films set in country houses Films with screenplays by Jack Thorne StudioCanal films Heyday Films films North York Moors North Yorkshire Helmsley Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films directed by Marc Munden Films shot at Pinewood Studios 2020s English-language films 2020s British films 2020s French films