The Cold Room
Encyclopedia
The Cold Room is a 1984 cable
television film by James Dearden
. Based on an eponymous 1978 science fiction
novel by Jeffrey Caine, the film stars George Segal
, Amanda Pays
(in her film debut), Anthony Higgins
, Renée Soutendijk
, and Warren Clarke
. The original film score
is by Michael Nyman
. It was a production of MCEG/Sterling Entertainment and released on VHS
by Charter Entertainment. As of 2008, it is available only on a chapterless DVD
transferred directly from that VHS by East West DVD for a suggested retail price of $1. That DVD has multiple pauses and skips in the master while the counter plays normally on copies.
parochial
boarding school
for the summer to live with her estranged father at an inn in East Berlin
. The headmistress (Ursula Howells
), a nun
, gives her a 1936 guide to Berlin, telling her she may find it useful, even though Berlin has surely changed as much as she has. Her best friend, Sophie (Lucy Hornack), gives her a bag of marijuana.
Hugh Martin (George Segal), her father, who lives on Central Park West
, greets her at the Berlin Airport, surprised at how grown she looks. Carla is a bit embarrassed that he has given her a teddy bear
, as she is nearly seventeen years old. She addresses him on a first name basis, and a camera pan
reveals that he just bought the teddy bear at the airport. As they cross through the Berlin Wall
, Carla is terrified that she will be personally searched and caught with drugs.
Hugh has a thirty-year-old girlfriend named Lili (Renée Soutendijk), who recommends Frau Hoffman's (Elizabeth Spriggs
) inn because of the local character being significant to Hugh's historical research. Carla is convinced that there are rat
s behind the wall and wants to leave. Hugh has Frau Hoffman humor her and show her that there is merely a broom closet next door, though that room is not deep enough to convince her. Hugh insists it's probably just part of the next room.
Carla sees flashes of another girl in the wardrobe
mirror
, starts tapping the wall behind it and gets taps back, and tearing away at the wallpaper
, she opens the wall to find a disused cold room, for the hotel was once a butcher's shop and home, and a Jewish dissident
named Erich (Anthony Higgins) hiding inside. She begins sneaking him food from the hotel kitchen
, along with utensils and her father's razor
, to help him. Carla is experiencing two realities, one in which she is Carla Martin and another in which she is Christa Bruckner, daughter of butcher
Wilhelm Bruckner (Warren Clarke) a proud member of the Nazi Party who calls her a "little slut
" and rape
s her in the night. Christa also has lines of cuts in both of her palm
s. Carla is ashamed by the rape and scrubs herself thoroughly in the bathtub.
Hugh is concerned that Carla may be going insane like her mother did and finally makes good on his insistence at having her seen by a doctor (George Pravda
). When the doctor comes, she has stripped the sheets on her bed for their dirtiness and is not wearing anything under the bed covers, so her father steps out for the examination. The doctor cannot find anything wrong, and when she tells him that her father raped her the night before and asks him to examine her, he sees only inflammation from the scrub brush and identifies her as "virga intacta
"—she was not raped.
Christa and Erich begin lovemaking
, as Christa fears she is pregnant by her father
and psychologically needs to have the possibility that any baby born is Erich's. She carves their names into a cross centered on the letter I
on the wall of the cold room. Soon after, Hugh finds her huddled in a nightgown inside the wardrobe, which is filled with rotten food. Hugh and Lili get her dressed and take her out of the hotel. As they are getting into the car, Herr Bruckner drags her back into the butcher shop and insists he needs her for deliveries. In reality, this is to give Frau Hoffman time to reveal Erich to the Gestapo
. When they return, Moltke (Clifford Rose), who had previously interrogated her about a visit to a Jewish man referred to her by Erich (something Carla was not able to accomplish in her own experience), is waiting in her bedroom. Erich shot one of Moltke's men, and Moltke killed him.
Hugh and Lili carry Carla back to the room with Frau Hoffman's assistance. When Carla regains consciousness, she begins accusing Frau Hoffman of having killed Erich. Not being able to tell Hugh from Herr Bruckner, she stabs him in the chest near the shoulder with a knife she has hidden. Coming to her senses, she and Lili ride with him in the ambulance
.
Hugh now with his arm in a sling, the police are called to open the wall behind the wardrobe, which Carla had never actually opened. The planks Herr Bruckner had sealed it up with are removed, and Carla investigates it, filled with rats as she initially suspected, discovering the place where Christa and Erich's names are carved into the wall. Frau Hoffman is unable to hide her shame. Hugh takes Christa back to the airport to live with her aunt, with whom she lived prior to boarding school.
. In 1995, the original soundtrack recordings were acquired by Ford A. Thaxton of Silva America Records for release on compact disc
in the wake of the popular success of The Piano
in late 1993. Strings and piano predominate the score.
"Main Theme - Reprise" is not the end title music, but in fact, the second track heard in the film. There is no return to the brighter opening music after the beginning of the film.
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
television film by James Dearden
James Dearden
James Dearden is an English film director and screenwriter, the son of acclaimed English film maker Basil Dearden. He directed seven films between 1977 and 1999...
. Based on an eponymous 1978 science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by Jeffrey Caine, the film stars George Segal
George Segal
George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...
, Amanda Pays
Amanda Pays
-Personal life:Pays was born in London, England, the daughter of Joan , an actress, and Howard Reginald Pays, a talent agent and former actor. She is the niece of former child actress Mandy Miller, after whom she is named. Her first marriage, from 1984 to 1987, was to Peter Kohn, production manager...
(in her film debut), Anthony Higgins
Anthony Higgins (actor)
Anthony Higgins is an English actor.-Career:Higgins started to play in school theatre in England. After graduation, he studied at the school of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company. In 1967 he became a professional stage actor. He received positive reviews for his Romeo in William...
, Renée Soutendijk
Renée Soutendijk
Renette Pauline Soutendijk, known as Renée Soutendijk, is a Dutch actress. She was a favorite star of director Paul Verhoeven's films and is perhaps best known for her work in his 1980 release Spetters. Her good looks and striking blond hair secured her status as a Dutch sex symbol in the 1980s...
, and Warren Clarke
Warren Clarke
-Biography:Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His first television appearance was in the long running Granada soap opera Coronation Street, initially as Kenny Pickup in 1966 and then as Gary Bailey in 1968. His first major film appearance was in Stanley Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork...
. The original film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
is by Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
. It was a production of MCEG/Sterling Entertainment and released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
by Charter Entertainment. As of 2008, it is available only on a chapterless DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
transferred directly from that VHS by East West DVD for a suggested retail price of $1. That DVD has multiple pauses and skips in the master while the counter plays normally on copies.
Plot
Carla Martin (Amanda Pays) is leaving an EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
parochial
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for the summer to live with her estranged father at an inn in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
. The headmistress (Ursula Howells
Ursula Howells
Ursula Howells was an English actress whose elegant presence kept her much in demand for roles in film and television....
), a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
, gives her a 1936 guide to Berlin, telling her she may find it useful, even though Berlin has surely changed as much as she has. Her best friend, Sophie (Lucy Hornack), gives her a bag of marijuana.
Hugh Martin (George Segal), her father, who lives on Central Park West
Central Park West
Central Park West is an avenue that runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the United States....
, greets her at the Berlin Airport, surprised at how grown she looks. Carla is a bit embarrassed that he has given her a teddy bear
Teddy bear
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
, as she is nearly seventeen years old. She addresses him on a first name basis, and a camera pan
Panning (camera)
In photography, panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or video camera, or the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device...
reveals that he just bought the teddy bear at the airport. As they cross through the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, Carla is terrified that she will be personally searched and caught with drugs.
Hugh has a thirty-year-old girlfriend named Lili (Renée Soutendijk), who recommends Frau Hoffman's (Elizabeth Spriggs
Elizabeth Spriggs
-Early life and career:Born in Buxton, Derbyshire as Elizabeth Jean Williams, Spriggs had an unhappy childhood and grew up entirely without affection, particularly from her distant, domineering father, a master builder and farmer. She studied at the Royal College of Music and taught speech and...
) inn because of the local character being significant to Hugh's historical research. Carla is convinced that there are rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s behind the wall and wants to leave. Hugh has Frau Hoffman humor her and show her that there is merely a broom closet next door, though that room is not deep enough to convince her. Hugh insists it's probably just part of the next room.
Carla sees flashes of another girl in the wardrobe
Wardrobe
A Wardrobe is a cabinet used for storing clothes.Wardrobe may also refer to:* Wardrobe , a full set of multiple clothing items* Wardrobe , part of royal administration in medieval England...
mirror
Mirror
A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...
, starts tapping the wall behind it and gets taps back, and tearing away at the wallpaper
Wallpaper
Wallpaper is a kind of material used to cover and decorate the interior walls of homes, offices, and other buildings; it is one aspect of interior decoration. It is usually sold in rolls and is put onto a wall using wallpaper paste...
, she opens the wall to find a disused cold room, for the hotel was once a butcher's shop and home, and a Jewish dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
named Erich (Anthony Higgins) hiding inside. She begins sneaking him food from the hotel kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
, along with utensils and her father's razor
Razor
A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of unwanted body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, disposable razors and electric razors....
, to help him. Carla is experiencing two realities, one in which she is Carla Martin and another in which she is Christa Bruckner, daughter of butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
Wilhelm Bruckner (Warren Clarke) a proud member of the Nazi Party who calls her a "little slut
Slut
Slut or slattern is a pejorative term applied to an individual who is considered to have loose sexual morals or who is sexually promiscuous...
" and rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s her in the night. Christa also has lines of cuts in both of her palm
Hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered extremity located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs...
s. Carla is ashamed by the rape and scrubs herself thoroughly in the bathtub.
Hugh is concerned that Carla may be going insane like her mother did and finally makes good on his insistence at having her seen by a doctor (George Pravda
George Pravda
George Pravda was a Czechoslovakian film and television actor.He began his career in Czechoslovakia, where he was credited as Jirí Pravda, and then emigrated to the United Kingdom....
). When the doctor comes, she has stripped the sheets on her bed for their dirtiness and is not wearing anything under the bed covers, so her father steps out for the examination. The doctor cannot find anything wrong, and when she tells him that her father raped her the night before and asks him to examine her, he sees only inflammation from the scrub brush and identifies her as "virga intacta
Hymen
The hymen is a membrane that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening. It forms part of the vulva, or external genitalia. The size of the hymenal opening increases with age. Although an often practiced method, it is not possible to confirm with certainty that a girl or woman is a...
"—she was not raped.
Christa and Erich begin lovemaking
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, as Christa fears she is pregnant by her father
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
and psychologically needs to have the possibility that any baby born is Erich's. She carves their names into a cross centered on the letter I
I
I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound...
on the wall of the cold room. Soon after, Hugh finds her huddled in a nightgown inside the wardrobe, which is filled with rotten food. Hugh and Lili get her dressed and take her out of the hotel. As they are getting into the car, Herr Bruckner drags her back into the butcher shop and insists he needs her for deliveries. In reality, this is to give Frau Hoffman time to reveal Erich to the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. When they return, Moltke (Clifford Rose), who had previously interrogated her about a visit to a Jewish man referred to her by Erich (something Carla was not able to accomplish in her own experience), is waiting in her bedroom. Erich shot one of Moltke's men, and Moltke killed him.
Hugh and Lili carry Carla back to the room with Frau Hoffman's assistance. When Carla regains consciousness, she begins accusing Frau Hoffman of having killed Erich. Not being able to tell Hugh from Herr Bruckner, she stabs him in the chest near the shoulder with a knife she has hidden. Coming to her senses, she and Lili ride with him in the ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
.
Hugh now with his arm in a sling, the police are called to open the wall behind the wardrobe, which Carla had never actually opened. The planks Herr Bruckner had sealed it up with are removed, and Carla investigates it, filled with rats as she initially suspected, discovering the place where Christa and Erich's names are carved into the wall. Frau Hoffman is unable to hide her shame. Hugh takes Christa back to the airport to live with her aunt, with whom she lived prior to boarding school.
Soundtrack album
The original music for the film was performed by the Wembley Studio Chamber Orchestra and recorded at The Music Centre, CTS Studios, LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1995, the original soundtrack recordings were acquired by Ford A. Thaxton of Silva America Records for release on compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
in the wake of the popular success of The Piano
The Piano (soundtrack)
The Piano is the original soundtrack, on the Virgin Records label, of the 1993 Academy Award-winning film The Piano. The original score was composed by Michael Nyman and is his twentieth album release...
in late 1993. Strings and piano predominate the score.
Track listing
- Main Theme
- The Nightmare Begins
- The Closet
- Sorcerer
- Sounds of the Night
- Her Man Awaits
- Ghosts of the Past
- The Damned
- Thoughtful
- Spectral Moments
- Macabre Piano
- A Cold Spot
- Red Drum
- Chase
- The Nightmare Ends
- Main Theme - Reprise
"Main Theme - Reprise" is not the end title music, but in fact, the second track heard in the film. There is no return to the brighter opening music after the beginning of the film.
Personnel
- Music composed, arranged, and produced by Michael NymanMichael NymanMichael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
- Performed by the Wembley Studio Chamber Orchestra
- Recorded at The Music Centre, CTS Studios, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- Recording Engineer: Pete Wandless
- Assistant: Keith Bourdice
- CD release sequence and produced by Ford A. Thaxton
- Remixed at The Music Source, Seattle, WA
- Remix Engineer: Bill Wolford
- Digitally edited at Phoenix Creative (Lacey, WA)
- Digital Editor: James Nelson
- Executive Producer: Reynold Da Silva
- Release Supervision: Yusuf Gandhi and Christy Carrillo
- Artwork: CrimsonCrimsonCrimson is a strong, bright, deep red color. It is originally the color of the dye produced from a scale insect, Kermes vermilio, but the name is now also used as a generic term for those slightly bluish-red colors that are between red and rose; besides crimson itself, these colors include...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its... - Photography: Martyn Goddard
- Special thanks to Gary English and Mark Forstater