Undescribable Perfection

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It would be a particularly strange individual to claim that this is an entertaining movie. But entertainment isn't the point - some films challenge you and make you question the moral aspect of what you're seeing. And much like "The Reader" did, "Pierrepoint" is another film that asks more questions than it answers. It also features another fine performance from one of Britain's most under-rated actors but somehow, it didn't engage with me as much as "The Reader" did and struggled to avoid the stench and stigma of being a glorified TV movie.Timothy Spall plays Albert Pierrepoint, a Lancashire grocery deliveryman who leads a double life as one of a number of executioners still operating in the UK. Quickly developing his technique and efficiency, Pierrepoint soon becomes considered the best there is which is why he is asked to Germany at the end of the Second World War to assist in hanging the various Nazi war criminals. Returning to his wife Annie (Juilet Stevenson) and his friend Tish (Eddie Marsan) as a hero, Pierrepoint's previously stoic nature begins to crack when the nation's views on capital punishment changes... and Pierrepoint finds himself doing the unthinkable.Spall, one of the UK's finest actors, easily holds this tale of the tortured hangman together and gives the character a real pathos that I didn't expect. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect to this - it offers a dark, disturbing look at a man who took a strange pride in what must be one of the most unpleasant jobs on the planet. But as the inevitable stiff upper lip disappears (especially during the final half-hour or so), the film's views on capital punishment are all too visible. There isn't a laugh to be had anywhere, unusually in a British film, and anyone expecting a ray of sunshine should probably look elsewhere. There are one or two historical inaccuracies (Pierrepoint wasn't Britain's last hangman at all) but it's not exactly "U-571" when the Enigma coding machine was recovered by Harvey Kietel and Jon Bon Jovi. I just feel that although it's a well-performed and well-written effort, I can't imagine the sort of person who would want to watch it."Pierrepoint" can't really be faulted in terms of what is on screen - everything looks authentic, the actors do well in the roles and the script gives a melancholic, washed-out grey feel to the story which remains not only believable but oddly compelling. My issue is more with what the film is trying to say - capital punishment has been abolished in the UK for a number of years and something tells me that this isn't the sort of movie to shown in places like China or Iran where capital punishment still exists. I feel that the film could have told more of the story rather than ending when it did and also managed the time-line of proceedings a bit better - I didn't get any real sense of time passing, despite the rudimentary efforts of the dialogue. But "Pierrepoint" remains a curious little film, one with a strong message behind it but not the confidence to stand up and shout it.

Last year, I was flicking through the late-night channels when I came across a British TV movie called 'Mr Harvey Lights a Candle (2005).' I only caught the final half-hour or so, but something about the leading man, Timothy Spall, struck me as astonishingly poignant. I'd previously only known him as the groveling Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail in the "Harry Potter" films, a role that hasn't afforded him much dramatic depth. His performance as the titular Mr Harvey was movingly underplayed, suggesting a man keeping painful memories and emotions to himself – in his own quietly-wounded way, he struck me as the modern equivalent of Charles Laughton. Adrian Shergold's 'Pierrepoint (2005)' (originally released under the erroneous title 'The Last Hangman') also utilises this quality of Spall's persona.I was reminded of a 1950s American noir, 'The Thief (1952).' In that film, Ray Milland's Communist spy is kept completely wordless, a verbal manifestation of his internalised guilt and anguish. Albert Pierrepoint suffers in much the same way. In the course of his daily duties as an official government executioner, Pierrepoint witnesses more grief than any ten men, yet he is bound by an unspoken obligation to keep his work and personal lives separate. Guilt, regret and disgust are perpetually broiling at the back of his mind, but he is obligated to conceal his true feelings. Pierrepoint and wife Annie (Juliet Stevenson) live a feeble charade, one that becomes impossible to maintain when his duties as a hangman become public knowledge.There is no crime more condemned in society than to deliberately take a human life. Pierrepoint, in a corruption of typical moral values, is encouraged by the government to do exactly this. Indeed, he takes a grotesque sort of professional pride in his work, carrying out death sentences with a mechanical precision that is later compared to the inner workings of the Nazi death-camps – men and women are executed in time for hangman to return to his smouldering cigar. In Germany, Pierrepoint performed as many as a dozen hangings a day, and Shergold's camera spins around the gallows in a disturbingly artistic "ballet' of executions (contrasting Pierrepoints own purely-mechanical approach with his glorification by the popular British media). A well-made, but emotionally exhausting biopic.

What a striking film. Realistic with every sentiment being portrayed by this fabulous cast. Personally I can watch this type film again and again. Not the brutality of capital punishment but " to the bone " British drama that no other film industry country can touch. A chilling round of applause goes to Timothy Spall. What a versatile actor from ultimate comedy to this role as Albert Pierrepoint. The intense portrayal of Pierrepoints wife played by Juliet Stevenson was played so classically. There was a great moment in this film when Pierrepiont hanged his friend "Tish" played by Eddie marsan. The strong powerful bond between these to guys came bouncing through the screen. I really enjoyed this film and I only discovered it by chance in the weekly section of the video library. I love British Drama.

This film details the life and career of Albert Pierrepoint, the Lancashire hangman and owner of the pub 'Help the Poor Struggler' from the 1930s through to the 1960s. His profession is in the blood - following in his father's footsteps - but until the war he stayed anonymous, not even discussing matters with his wife.Timothy Spall does well in the lead, although the historical accuracy is questionable in places. As a character study it works well, but ultimately it is a fairly depressing watch. The quotation at the end makes clear that Pierrepoint did become disillusioned with his quick and dispassionate job, moving from pride in the speed of his work to the feeling that something is inherently wrong with one person causing another's life to end with deliberate calculation.Pierrepoint is a film which raises a lot of questions, but ultimately treats them in a superficial way. Historical cases well documented such as Evans and Ellis pass by without much note, which depersonalises them and makes their inclusion something of a lost opportunity.