The Story:
The Hanging Garden opens with a teenage William in the garden with his father (Peter MacNeill). William names each flower and the month it blooms, and when he gets one wrong, his father becomes angry and calls him names. With each wrong answer, his father’s anger escalates until he becomes violent.
The film then cuts to the day William (Chris Leavins) comes home after a ten-year absence to see his sister getting married. The wedding is taking place in the backyard, and William is late. His sister Rosemary (Ferry Fox) is upset, his father is getting drunk, and his mother (Seana McKenna) seems annoyed. It all plays out in a way that displays the family dysfunction that’s at the center of the story.
William parks his car, steps out and looks around. He’s in no rush to join the festivities, and we can only assume it has to do with memories of the beatings his father gave him. He walks through the yard while Rosemary and her groom are at the altar. His sister sees him and grins.
William walks into the house, where he sees his younger self scampering about. He goes upstairs, where a suit is waiting for him, but finds it too large for his slender frame. This is a mere reminder of the heavy person he once was. He changes into the suit and goes upstairs to visit with his grandmother, who has dementia. They dance, then he goes downstairs as the groom walks in. They say hello, and it seems as if the groom, Fletcher (Joel S. Keller), is flirting with him.
As the film goes on, William remembers more of his past and begins to fall back into his old routines. Soon he not only sees himself as a young boy, but also as an overweight teenager. As past and present play out at the same time, we learn that William is attracted to Fletcher. It isn’t until William and Fletcher are alone after a school dance that Williams finds out that Fletcher feels the same about him. The film doesn’t shy away from the fact that William is overweight, and it’s nice to see Fletcher finding William sexually appealing. The two embrace and then are caught in the act. And that is when William’s real troubles begin.
The Hanging Garden was released in 1997, a time when being gay had even worse consequences than it does today. The fallout is dramatic, and William’s mother decides to keep the truth from William’s father because it would devastate him. The events that follow culminates in William having to make a choice between leaving home and committing suicide.
There’s a gruesome scene where we watch teenage William hanging himself from a tree in the backyard. It’s uncomfortable and heartbreaking to watch. It’s also where the movie gets confusing. Since William is alive and we know he left home for ten years, we don’t understand why someone doesn’t save him. And it’s confusing when the adult William goes outside to see himself dead and still hanging in the tree while his distraught father tries to pull him down. Rosemary comes out of the house and can also see the teenage William hanging from the tree and tells William that she sees it every day. And so now we’re left wondering which story is true. Did William leave home, or did he hang himself?
Since the story plays out like a family drama, the concept of two realities playing out in tandem is confusing. And because you’re too busy trying to figure out what just happened, the rest of the film feels a bit inconsequential.
Final Thoughts:
The Hanging Garden was written and directed by Thom Fitzgerald. The acting is decent, and I enjoyed the pacing, but the artsy concept of the past and present merging is far too confusing and destroys the story.