''The Wisdom of Crocodiles'' (also released as ''Immortality'') is a 1998 British romantic

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Po-Chih Leong Leong Po-Chih (born 31 December 1939) is a British-born Chinese film director from Hong Kong and United States. Early life On December 31, 1939, Leong was born in England. He has two siblings. Leong attended the London Film School, before em ...

and starring

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary Césa ...

. It is based on the book of the same name by Paul Hoffman.

Plot

Cast

as Steven Grlscz ; Grlscz's Women *

Elina Löwensohn Elina Löwensohn (born 11 July 1966) is a Romanian-American actress. She had roles in the films ''Simple Men'' (1992), ''Schindler's List'' (1993), ''Amateur'' (1994), '' Nadja'' (1994) and '' The Wisdom of Crocodiles'' (1998). Life and career L ...

as Anne Levels *

Kerry Fox Kerry Lauren Fox (born 30 July 1966) is a New Zealand actress. She came to prominence playing author Janet Frame in the movie ''An Angel at My Table'' directed by Jane Campion, which gained her a Best Actress Award from the New Zealand Film and ...

as Maria Vaughan ; Police *

Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Spall performed in '' S ...

as Inspector Healey *

Jack Davenport Jack Arthur Davenport (born 1 March 1973) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series '' This Life'' and ''Coupling'', and as James Norrington in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' series. He has also appeared ...

as Sergeant Roche ; Gang * Ashley Artus as Gang Leader *

Tom Wu Tom Wu (born 15 May 1972) is a Hong Kong-born British actor who grew up in Chinatown, London. He is a martial arts expert who has appeared in films such as ''Revolver'', ''Shanghai Knights'', '' Batman Begins'' and the Bollywood film '' Ra.One'' ...

as Gang Member * Hon Ping Tang as Gang Member *

Antony Cotton Antony Cotton (born Antony Dunn; 5 August 1975) is an English actor, known for portraying the role of Sean Tully in ''Coronation Street'', as well as portraying Alexander Perry in the original '' Queer as Folk'' series. In 2007, Cotton hosted ...

as Gang Member *

Richard Mylan Richard Mylan (born 24 November 1973) is a Welsh actor and former dancer. He is best known for his roles in ''The Bill'', '' Bad Girls'' and '' Grownups'' as Chris. Early life Mylan was born in Swansea in 1973. There he attended the Birchgrove ...

as Gang Member * Carlton Headley as Gang Member * Neran Persaud as Gang Member ; Supporting Cast * Julia Davies as Girl In Operating Theatre * Carlton Jarvis as Physician (uncredited) *

Colin Salmon Colin Salmon (born ) is a British actor. He is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and James "One" Shade in the ''Resident Evil'' film series. He has had roles on many television series such as ''Doctor Who'', ''Merli ...

as Martin * Hitler Wong as "Noodles" Chan * Stuart Bowman as Car Crash Mechanic * C.J. December as Car Crash Mechanic *

Anastasia Hille Anastasia Hille (born 1965) is an English film, television and theatre actress, and ceramicist. Born in London, she was a student at London's Drama Centre and won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards in 1994 (the first prize was awarded to ...

as Karen * Nicholas Lamont (as Nick Lamont) as Toll Bridge Attendant *

Joseph O'Conor Joseph O'Conor (14 February 1916 – 21 January 2001) was an Irish actor and playwright. Early years O'Conor was born in DublinAlan Strachan ''The Independent'', 2 February 2001Stephen GilbertObituary ''The Guardian'', 25 January 2001 on ...

as Mr. Nancarrow *

Rupert Farley Rupert Charles Farley (born 4 August 1957) is an English actor and voice artist. He has had various roles in movies such as ''From Hell'', ''The Young Poisoner's Handbook'', ''Shakespeare in Love'' and ''Mrs Brown''. He is probably best known f ...

as Priest * Diane Howse as Mrs. Healey *

Cliff Parisi Cliff Parisi (born Clifford R Manley; 24 May 1960) is an English actor, known for his roles as Minty Peterson in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' and Fred Buckle in the BBC period drama ''Call the Midwife''. In 2019, he participated in the ni ...

as Labourer * Vincent Keane as Injured Workman

Reception

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 ...

gave it a total score of 47% and

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave it 58/100.

Richard Corliss Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects. He was the former editor-in-chief of '' Film Commen ...

of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' liked the film, claiming "... this cool, handsome thriller proceeds with an elliptical elegance." Others, however, were not as kind;

Elvis Mitchell Elvis Mitchell (born December 6, 1958) is an American film critic, host of the public radio show ''The Treatment'', and visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has served as a film critic for the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', the ''LA Weekly ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' dismissed it as "bloodless", with dialogue that "sounds like the kind of florid pick-up lines better used on second-year literature students or the kind of lonely women seen only in movies," while Paul Tatara of

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

called it "stylish but anemic". The film won the 1999 Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver at the

Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF), previously named Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (french: Festival international du film fantastique de Bruxelles, nl, Internationaal Festival van de Fantastische Fil ...

References

External links

* * * * 1998 films 1990s English-language films 1998 romantic drama films 1990s psychological thriller films British vampire films Films set in London British drama films 1990s British films {{1990s-UK-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links