Plots with a View – 2002 | 94 mins | Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Plots with a View is an outrageous romantic black-comedy focusing on unrequited love and the competitive world of undertaking in a small Welsh town. Brenda Blethyn and Alfred Molina are perfectly cast as the unassuming lovers whilst there are scene-stealing cameos from Christopher Walken’s crass American funeral director and Naomi Watts’ scantily-clad gold digger. Unfathomably, the film never went on general release in the UK despite the strong cast and was renamed Undertaking Betty in the US – perhaps an attempt to cash-in on the success of Blethyn’s Saving Grace (2000).

Set in the small Welsh town of Wrottin, Powys, shy funeral parlour owner Boris Plots (Alfred Molina) life is about to turn upside down. The woman he’s loved since he was a young boy, Betty Rhys-Jones (Brenda Blethyn), is about to become available – by staging her own untimely demise so the two can elope together. And the business Boris has always loved is about to come under attack from flashy American competitor Frank Featherbed (Christopher Walken) and his assistant Delbert (Lee Evans), who aim to “put the fun back in funerals” with themed burials, Vegas-style ceremonies and a whole lot of pizzazz. Betty’s husband, the womanising town councillor Hugh is glad to be rid of his wife, as is his hilariously scheming mistress Meredith (Naomi Watts) who was intent on bumping off Betty anyway. After her staged death, Betty discovers the truth about her adulterous husband’s and his strumpet secretary – and decides to get even before departing.