Stiletto

Stiletto is about an orphan boy. His aunt, his carer for now, is no substitute for a mother and a father. There are no men in this boy’s world; his aunt’s care of him is short on affection, for she has a business to run and knows little of what a young boy may think or feel.

And so this boy has established a set of compulsive rituals, particularly the adoration of a creature that he keeps caged in a garden shed. The boy prays that the animal will emerge to take revenge on the adult who does not care for him enough.

But the boy is puzzled by his aunt’s bright world, one in which the emblem of femininity, the stiletto heeled shoe, is sold to men. But so obscure is this possibility, that the boy cannot comprehend it. What connection could there be between him and a man?

Stiletto is loosely inspired by Saki’s tale Sredni Vashtar.

The film was originally laden with expository dialogue, but the editing process, which has taken more than a decade to complete, now reduces the plotting to hints and suggestions of the wider story.

cast: Sharon Maughan & Tom Hunt

camera, editing, direction: Adam Roberts

dialogue script: Mark Wheatley

based on Sredni Vashtar by Saki

DoP: Jack Hazan

production designer: Teresa McCann

costume Design: Louise Page

producer: Ben Woolford

production company: Tall Stories

music: Matteo Fargion & Marc Sabat

first tx: Channel 4 Autumn 1998

funding: BFI/Channel 4

Published by filmarmalade DVDs with an interview by Jonathan Romney and Miranda Pennel with the director.

Available for the BFI Filmstore and on line.