Byzantium


On the run for murder, two young "sisters" arrive penniless at an English seaside town. Clara is a fiercely modern woman who has her eyes on the future and no time for the past. Teenager Eleanor is shy and innocent. Yet, they both hide the same secrets: They are really mother and daughter, and they are both ... vampires!

Eleanor is exhausted by 200 years on the run and desperate to settle down. But little does she know that her mother has been protecting her all of the years from their own kind, "The Brotherhood". To escape them, they must either blend in or continue running away. But just as they think they may have escaped, their past rapidly catches up with them.

CURRENT STATUS: 
Now On DVD
On the run for murder, two young "sisters" arrive penniless at an English seaside town. Clara is a fiercely modern woman who has her eyes on the future and no time for the past. Teenager Eleanor is shy and innocent. Yet, they both hide the same secrets: They are really mother and daughter, and they are both ... vampires!

Eleanor is exhausted by 200 years on the run and desperate to settle down. But little does she know that her mother has been protecting her all of the years from their own kind, "The Brotherhood". To escape them, they must either blend in or continue running away. But just as they think they may have escaped, their past rapidly catches up with them.

CATEGORY
Vampires

RELEASE DATE
May 31, 2013 (UK)
June 28, 2013 (US)(Limited)
July 1, 2013 (US)(VOD)
October 29, 2013 (US)(DVD)
CURRENT STATUS
Now On DVD
LANGUAGE
English
PRODUCED BY
Number 9 Films
MPAA RATING
R "bloody violence, sexual content and language."
OFFICIAL SITES
Facebook
DIRECTED BY
Neil Jordan
WRITTEN BY
Moira Buffini
STARRING
Saoirse Ronan
Gemma Arterton
Caleb Landry Jones
Danny Mays
Bradley James
Sam Riley
Jonny Lee Miller
Tom Hollander

PROJECT DETAILS
  • IFC Films will distribute in the US.
  • Alternate synopsis: Eleanor and Clara, two mysterious and penniless young women, flee the scene of a violent crime and arrive in a run-down coastal resort. They try to find money and refuge along the tawdry seafront and in the dilapidated hotels.Clara, ever-practical, sells her body. She soon meets shy and lonely Noel, who provides a roof over their heads in his seedy guesthouse, Byzantium. Clara, always looking towards the future, turns it into a ‘pop-up’ brothel.Meanwhile Eleanor, the eternal schoolgirl, meets Frank, a kindred spirit who unwittingly prompts her to tell the truth about her life. She tells him that Clara is her mother; yet Clara is only a few years older. She says that she was born in 1804; yet she is just sixteen. She confesses that she must drink human blood to stay alive – and so must her mother. In the small, quiet town, people start to die.And the past that the girls have been running from for so long, finally catches up with them – with astonishing consequences.
  • Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men First Class) plays "a teenager dying of leukemia which in turns forces him to struggle with his mortality, causing Saorsie Ronan's character to struggle with her own immortality."
  • Fans may recognize young actress Saoirse Ronan from The Lovely Bones.
  • Budgeted at an estimated $11-million USD.
  • Director Neil Jordan is no stranger to the genre, having helmed films like The Company of Wolves and more notably, Interview With the Vampire.
  • It's said that the film will be a slightly more adult and darker take than the original play.
  • Based on a youth theater play by writer Moira Buffini, who also adapts for the film.
GALLERY
VIDEOS
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REVIEW

7/10 | Click here to read the official review from a UHM staff member.


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