| Pierrepoint | |
|---|---|
 British theatrical quad | |
| Directed by | Adrian Shergold |
| Written by | |
| Produced by | Christine Langan |
| Starring | Timothy Spall Juliet Stevenson Eddie Marsan |
| Cinematography | Danny Cohen |
| Edited by | Tania Reddin |
| Music by | Martin Phipps |
| Distributed by | Redbus Film Distribution |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Pierrepoint is a 2005 British film directed byAdrian Shergold about the life of BritishexecutionerAlbert Pierrepoint.
The film premiered at the2005 Toronto International Film Festival[1] and was released in the UK on 7 April 2006.[2] In the United States, it received a limited theatrical release at three screens on 7 June 2007, grossing $21,766. It was later released on DVD on 30 October 2007.[3]
Commissioned as a television film in 2004,[4]Pierrepoint was broadcast onITV on 25 August 2008, when it attracted an estimated audience of 3.6 million.[5] The film was renamedPierrepoint: The Last Hangman for its North American release, although Pierrepoint was not the last British hangman.
The film is loosely based on the life of Britain's most prolifichangman,Albert Pierrepoint (played byTimothy Spall), from the time he is trained for the job and accepted onto the list of the country's official hangmen in 1932 until his resignation in 1956.
The film is a highly fictionalised account of his life and has a strong anti-capital punishment theme. A number of executions occur out of sequence and there are a number of factual errors, such as female prison warders being present at female executions and two newly qualified executioners working together as "Number One" and "Assistant".
The hanging scenes and the street protest scenes at the end of the film were at theHistoric Dockyard, Chatham.[6]
Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film holds anapproval rating of 79% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Director Adrian Shergold doesn't shy away from the darker elements of the movie's subject, and Timothy Spall is mesmerizing as the title character."[7] OnMetacritic, the film has aweighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[8]