The Rule of Jenny Pen (1 Star)

This is the final film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Sometimes a film is so bad that I don't want to review it. There are films I'd rather forget. I'll force myself to write a few words about "The Rule of Jenny Pen" to warn my readers against being tempted into the cinema. After all, a film with outstanding actors like Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow can't be all that bad, can it?

It's not all that bad. It's worse.

Stefan Mortensen is a cantankerous old judge in New Zealand. After suffering a stroke he's unable to walk and is put in a care home until he recovers. He wants a room for himself, but he has to share a room with Tony Garfield, a former New Zealand rugby player who's permanently unable to walk. Stefan witnesses another patient called Dave Crealy entering their room at night to bully Tony. When Stefan speaks out in his defence, he becomes the main victim of the bullying.

It's a strange care home. Most of the patients are demented. Only Stefan and Tony have a physical disability. Dave is healthy, but he pretends to be demented during the daytime, so that nobody suspects him of bullying others at night. Aren't physically and mentally ill patients usually separated?

So we have 100 minutes of sick old men fighting with one another, surrounded by demented old men and women. The film is sick. I felt like walking out, but I was sitting in the middle of a row, and I didn't want to disturb the other viewers.

Maybe I should delete this review. It's a film I want to forget.