The Chalk Garden
“A girl on the verge of womanhood... a woman on the edge of loneliness... both suspicious of affection, yet starved for love.”
The peculiar antics of Laurel, an emotionally troubled young girl, are the focus of The Chalk Garden – a stately household drama set on the cliffs of the English south coast. Edith Evans plays a matriarchal grandmother who, in raising her granddaughter, has neglected her other love – a barren chalk garden. Mayhem ensues as Laurel's behavior frightens away a succession of governesses until an enigmatic one is hired in spite of her mysterious references. She skillfully sets about tending to the girl's reckless emotions and the pitifully failed garden.
A suffocatingly proper atmosphere hides simmering resentments and psychological games. It feels like a carefully tended garden where poisonous weeds grow beneath the surface, promising a slow, unsettling unraveling of secrets.
