Rich, vigorous and inventive swearing on film is hard to come by now — either that or I’m inured to it — but there’s a foul-mouthed feast for the ears in 44 Inch Chest. This Pinteresque British film, released last month, is about a group of splenetic thugs who kidnap a young waiter who has cuckolded one of their number. While not especially distinguished, the picture has three things going for it: a rasping, rancid-looking John Hurt; the honey-voiced, smooth-as-a-bullet Ian McShane; and some of the ripest, most rhythmic use of verbal obscenities since David Mamet sustained a paper cut immediately after stubbing his toe.
In his New Yorker review of 44 Inch Chest, David Denby wrote: “The men take turns screaming at the silent Loverboy, as they call him, relying on extensive use of Britain’s favorite four-letter word (not the same as America’s favorite four-letter word).”
Woah there! Now wait just a minute. Is this really how the Manhattan cognoscenti regard us? (And have they never seen Curb Your Enthusiasm?) It’s true that I haven’t heard the word to which Mr Denby is referring — we’ll call it “clod” — spill from the mouth of an actual American person, as opposed to a movie character, whereas in Britain you need only reach for the last tube of Werther’s Originals in the shop to be branded a clod by the seething shopper who’s next in line. But if all you had to go on was TV and cinema, you could hardly argue that we are a nation of clod-utterers. Unless, that is, you spent all your free time watching Danny Dyer movie marathons, and that’s something you wouldn’t wish on anyone, not even Danny Dyer.
I’m not sure where to cast my vote for Best Use of “Clod” In a Motion Picture. Withnail and I (“Monty, you terrible clod!”) has to be a contender, but I find the word even more abrasive in the generally softer American accent, where it takes a moment to register what’s been said. What a shock it was to hear Woody Allen deploy the insult in Deconstructing Harry; the BBFC clearly agreed, and gave Allen his first 18-certificate (for its “coarse language”). Even nastier was hearing Al Pacino use the word to diminish Kevin Spacey in the scalding film version of Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.
I’ll put an early bet on young Chloe Moretz to steal Pacino’s crown when Kick-Ass, the forthcoming movie about DIY superheroes, opens here in April. Looking like a kid who should be plaiting the manes of her My Little Ponies, Moretz (a veteran of the TV series My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and just 12 when Kick-Ass was shot) delivers the “British” word with a lip-smacking ferociousness that would make Danny Dyer sob into his monogrammed West Ham handkerchief. The director of Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn, is British, while the comic-book series from which it is adapted is American. Under the rules of the Denby test, we’ll call that one a draw.
The picture has already caused a minor storm in Australia, where it has been rated “MA”. I’m not entirely familiar with the Aussie ratings system, but this denotes either that anyone under 15 can see the film only in the company of an adult, or that admission is granted only to those with a postgraduate degree.
Ryan Gilbey blogs for Cultural Capital every Tuesday. He is also the New Statesman’s film critic.
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