The Oxford Murders (film)
| The Oxford Murders | |
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American theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Álex de la Iglesia |
| Produced by | Gerardo Herrero Álvaro Augustín Mariela Besuievsky |
| Screenplay by |
Jorge Guerricaechevarria Álex de la Iglesia |
| Story by | Guillermo Martínez (novel) |
| Starring |
Elijah Wood John Hurt Leonor Watling Julie Cox |
| Music by | Roque Baños |
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Production
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| Distributed by |
Odeon Sky Filmworks (UK) Magnolia Pictures (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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108 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom Spain France |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $14.1 million |
The Oxford Murders is a 2008 British-Spanish drama film directed by Álex de la Iglesia. This thriller film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Argentine mathematician and writer Guillermo Martínez. The film stars Elijah Wood, John Hurt, Spanish actress Leonor Watling and Julie Cox.
In 1993, Martin (Elijah Wood), a US student at the University of Oxford, wants Arthur Seldom (John Hurt) as his thesis supervisor. He idolises Seldom and has learned all about him. He takes accommodation in Oxford at the house of Mrs. Eagleton (Anna Massey), an old friend of Seldom. Also in the house is her daughter, Beth (Julie Cox), who is her full-time caregiver — which she resents bitterly — and a musician by occupation.
In a public lecture, Seldom quotes Wittgenstein's Tractatus to deny the possibility of absolute truth. Hoping to impress his idol, Martin disputes this, asserting his faith in the absolute truth of mathematics: "I believe in the number pi". Seldom humiliates him, ridiculing his arguments and making him look foolish in front of the audience. Disillusioned, Martin decides to abandon his studies and goes to his office to collect his belongings. There, he encounters his office-mate, a bitter mathematician Podorov (Burn Gorman), who also failed to become a student of Seldom's.
Martin then returns to his residence, where he finds Seldom arriving to visit Mrs. Eagleton. The two men enter the house together and find Martin's landlady murdered. Seldom tells the police that he had received a note with his friend's address marked as "the first of a series". As Seldom is an authority on logical series, he argues that a serial killer is using murder as a way to challenge his intelligence. According to Seldom, "The only perfect crime that exists is not the one that remains unsolved, but the one which is solved with the wrong culprit."
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Wikipedia