A Film with Me in It 2008
Directed by
Neil Jordan
Made by
Parallel Films
A Film with Me in It Plot Summary
Read the complete plot summary and ending explained for A Film with Me in It (2008). From turning points to emotional moments, uncover what really happened and why it matters.
Mark is an actor living in a basement flat beneath his writer friend Pierce, where he shares a cramped life with his girlfriend Sally and looks after his paralysed brother David. Struggling to find steady work and braving the burden of care, he constantly dodges his landlord, Jack, to avoid overdue rent and to keep the flat’s deteriorating condition under wraps.
As tensions mount, Sally reaches a breaking point. She ends the strained relationship with Mark, informs Jack about the necessary repairs, and decides to move out. The flat’s decline accelerates, and Mark endures a double tragedy: first, a bookshelf crashes down and kills his dog, then a chandelier collapses in the living room and crushes David. Mark is left staring in horror as Jack appears to mend a high lightbulb on a wobbly stool, only to fall and fatally wound himself with his screwdriver. Pierce arrives soon after, discovering the bodies and spiraling into panic.
In the aftermath, Mark and Pierce hide in the bathroom and scheme to manage the fallout, but Sally unexpectedly returns. Discovering David’s body, she faints and, in a grim twist, impales herself on Mark’s clarinet stand. Overwhelmed by a sense of absurdity at the sequence of fatal accidents, Pierce hatches a plan to relocate Jack’s body, arguing they both had motive to kill him. Sally’s father turns up, and a Policewoman arrives due to an unrelated noise complaint, triggering further panic in Pierce, who seizes her hostage in an attempt to control the situation.
The officer is kept alive but restrained, and the room grows tense as she struggles to escape through a faulty window—only for the window to close and crush her head. Surrounded by a growing stack of corpses, Pierce devises an even bolder scheme: he places David, Sally, Jack, and the family dog in his car and drives to a remote area to detonate it, leaving little forensic trace. To avoid arousing suspicion toward Mark, he also stages Mark’s death by placing his jewellery and clarinet with David’s body, hinting that Mark died as part of the chaos.
The plan continues as they move the officer to the neighbor’s garden and pretend she died from a falling plant pot. Then, in a final ruse, they shave and cut Mark’s hair, dress him as David, and try to present Mark as his disabled brother for a caretaker alibi during Pierce’s absence. In the closing moments, Mark’s agent calls with a tempting acting role, a possibility he cannot accept while living as David. Meanwhile, Pierce directs a film adapted from the events they lived through, turning tragedy into fiction.
A Film with Me in It Timeline
Follow the complete movie timeline of A Film with Me in It (2008) with every major event in chronological order. Great for understanding complex plots and story progression.
Mark's life in a basement flat under pressure
Mark, living in a basement flat under his writer friend Pierce, struggles to find work while caring for his paralysed brother David. Sally, Mark's girlfriend, remains part of the household but overdue rent creates tension with landlord Jack. Mark's fear of eviction keeps him silent about the flat's dilapidated state.
Sally ends the relationship and informs Jack
Sally decides to end her strained relationship with Mark. She informs landlord Jack of the repairs needed and arranges to move out. This triggers a reckoning with the rent and the state of the flat.
First fatal accident: bookshelf collapse
The tension erupts when a bookshelf falls, killing Mark's dog. Mark witnesses the accident but cannot fix the mounting debt or danger. The incident marks the first deadly turn in the unraveling events.
Second fatal accident: chandelier collapse
While the living room scene worsens, the chandelier collapses, crushing David. The event devastates Mark and heightens the sense of impending disaster in the cramped flat. This tragedy pushes the situation from accident to murder-tainted crisis.
Jack dies while fixing the lightbulb
Jack appears to repair a high lightbulb atop a wobbly stool, but he falls and pierces his throat with his screwdriver. The landlord's death removes a barrier to Mark's survival and deepens the lies surrounding the flat. Mark watches as the consequences of neglect spiral out of control.
Pierce discovers the corpses and panics
Pierce arrives and comes face to face with the corpses, and he panics. He realises the scale of what has happened and worries about being implicated. Mark's presence beside him anchors the moment as they confront the aftermath.
Mark and Pierce hide as Sally returns
Mark and Pierce hide in the bathroom to avoid discovery, and Sally suddenly returns to the ruined flat. She confronts the carnage, and her reappearance forces the conspirators to improvise. The tense moment raises the stakes as their plan slowly begins to fail.
Sally discovers David's body and dies
Sally discovers David's body, faints, and impales herself on Mark's clarinet stand, killing her. The deaths continue to multiply as Mark's world collapses around him. The event drives the survivors further into a web of evasion and fear.
Conspiracy grows: plan to relocate Jack's body
Pierce formulates a plan to relocate Jack's body to an alternate location to avoid suspicion. Sally's father arrives and a police officer shows up due to a noise complaint. The mounting danger forces the conspirators to act.
Pierce panics and takes the officer hostage
Pierce panics and takes the officer hostage. He uses the hostage to stall, buying time to execute their cover-up. The decision intensifies the risk and tightens the noose around their plan.
Officer dies escaping through a faulty window
Left unattended, the officer attempts to escape through a faulty window, but the window closes and crushes her head. The killing removes a potential witness and helps seal their alibi-fraught actions. The room becomes crowded with corpses as the conspiracy grows bolder.
Car explosion to erase forensic traces
Pierce and Mark prepare to dispose of the evidence by placing David, Sally, Jack, and the dog in his car and driving to a secluded area to explode it, leaving minimal forensic traces. Mark also contributes by staging his own death to mislead investigators. The violent plan shows how far they are willing to go.
Mark fakes his own death by posing as David
Mark cuts his hair and is dressed as David, while the two attempt to pass Mark as his disabled brother with Pierce acting as his carer to provide an alibi. The deception is crucial to keeping their violent escape hidden from authorities. The mood is grim as the last real chance of evading suspicion fades.
Ending: a role and a film about the events
Mark's agent rings with an attractive role offer, which he cannot accept while living as David. Meanwhile, Pierce directs a film to a script he wrote based on the tragic events. The pair convert their crimes into a form of art, bringing the nightmare into the public eye.
Closing: the illusion of control persists
The story ends with the criminals attempting to maintain control over the situation, even as their actions have spiraled beyond repair. The film within a film mirrors the tragedy they created, leaving no clear escape from the consequences. The final image lingers on the idea that some horrors are better kept quiet.
A Film with Me in It Characters
Explore all characters from A Film with Me in It (2008). Get detailed profiles with their roles, arcs, and key relationships explained.
Mark Doherty
An actor living in a basement flat below his writer friend Pierce. He struggles to find work while caring for his paralysed brother, David. Facing overdue rent, he dodges the landlord Jack, helping to maintain the flat’s dilapidated state and escalating tension.
Pierce
Mark’s writer friend who becomes entangled after the murders. He arrives amid chaos, panics, and collaborates with Mark to manage the situation and avoid suspicion. He exhibits pragmatic, morally grey decision-making as the plan unfolds.
Sally
Mark’s girlfriend who ultimately ends the strained relationship and urges repairs. She becomes part of the mounting tragedy, fainting and dying during the chaos. She embodies a pragmatic, determined stance amid the unraveling events.
Jack
The landlord whose interest in the flat’s upkeep drives tension. He becomes a focal point of the cover-up schemes as the place deteriorates and danger escalates.
David
Mark’s paralysed brother, a constant dependent presence whose condition amplifies the emotional stakes. His death marks a turning point that deepens panic and intensifies the conspirators' efforts to conceal the truth.
Detective
A detective who arrives to investigate the deaths after a disturbance. He represents external scrutiny that forces the conspirators to improvise and escalate their plans to protect themselves.
Policewoman
A police officer who becomes involved following a noise complaint, adding pressure on the protagonists to maintain their ruse. Her presence intensifies the tension and forces further improvisation.
Mr. Finnegan
A neighbour who appears amid the chaos, serving as a peripheral observer to the mounting chaos in the building. His role underscores the everyday world that surrounds the central madness.
Neighbor
A neighbor in the same building who reacts to the escalating disturbances and the strange activities surrounding Mark, Sally, and Pierce. Their perspective highlights the wider impact of the events on the community.
Casting Assistant
A member of the production world who appears in the ensemble cast, representing the film industry within the story and contributing to the meta-cinematic atmosphere.
A Film with Me in It Settings
Learn where and when A Film with Me in It (2008) takes place. Explore the film’s settings, era, and how they shape the narrative.
Time period
The events take place in a contemporary urban setting, blending ordinary domestic life with sudden, absurd catastrophes. The mood relies on modern dynamics—rent, relationships, and improvisation under pressure—to drive both humor and tragedy.
Location
Basement flat, Dublin, Ireland
The story unfolds inside a cramped basement flat that sits beneath the writer Pierce. The dilapidated state of the building becomes the catalyst for a chain of fatal accidents and cover-ups. The claustrophobic rooms and the precarious wiring play into the film’s blackly comic mood.
A Film with Me in It Themes
Discover the main themes in A Film with Me in It (2008). Analyze the deeper meanings, emotional layers, and social commentary behind the film.
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Film Within
The narrative repeatedly blurs the line between life and cinema, with Pierce drafting a script based on the events. The characters discuss or enact a movie-like plan, highlighting a meta-cinematic awareness. This self-referential aspect amplifies the absurdity of their attempts to control a spiraling situation.
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Domestic Mortality
A single cramped flat becomes the stage for multiple fatal accidents, turning ordinary space into a death trap. The proximity of bodies and secrets heightens fear, guilt, and the sense of inevitability. Attempts to cover up the deaths propel the plot into increasingly farcical, tragicomic ends.
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Desperation
Financial strain and fragile relationships push characters toward drastic choices. Mark’s rent-skimming and Sally’s decision to move out ignite a dangerous cascade of murders and schemes. The plot uses debt and pressure to fuel dark humor and reckless decisions.
A Film with Me in It Spoiler-Free Summary
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In a cramped London basement flat where the walls seem to hold as much weight as the tenants’ ambitions, a bleak yet oddly comic world unfolds. The film leans into black‑humour, letting ordinary desperation ripple into the absurd, while the dimly lit setting feels both intimate and suffocating. Everyday pressures—unpaid rent, looming deadlines, and the relentless grind of creative life—are amplified by a sense that any misstep could spiral into catastrophe, setting a tone that is as unsettling as it is darkly funny.
Mark is a down‑and‑out actor clinging to the remnants of a career that never quite took off, sharing the cramped space with his frazzled girlfriend Sally, his paralysed brother David, and a landlord who constantly threatens eviction. Across the hallway, Pierce, a scriptwriter whose own projects have stalled, watches the chaos from his own cramped quarters, his own optimism worn thin. Their lives intersect in a volatile mix of unpaid bills, creative block, and the ever‑present pressure of caring for loved ones, creating a fragile alliance forged more by circumstance than choice.
When a series of bizarre, accidental tragedies strike the flat, the duo finds themselves trapped between a palpable fear of legal repercussions and an urgent need to keep their world from unraveling. The looming presence of Jack, the landlord, and the occasional intrusion of authority figures heighten the tension, prompting the two to consider increasingly unconventional ways to stay under the radar. Their attempts to navigate this precarious situation are laced with grim wit, revealing how far ordinary people will go when the line between accident and culpability blurs.
The film’s mood oscillates between claustrophobic dread and sharply observed comedy, inviting the audience to watch as desperation fuels creativity in the most macabre of ways. As the characters wrestle with the absurdity of their circumstances, the story asks how far one can stretch morality when every choice seems to lead deeper into darkness—while still delivering laughs that echo through the very walls that contain them.
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