By Rume Otuguor
I have no love for Miss Trunchbull — the villainous headmistress from Matilda. She was cruel to children and kicked cats into oblivion with the vim of an Olympic athlete. There’s no way around it, that woman was rotten. But her home? I relished it. As a child all I wanted was to roam free, but our council flat had its limits. Through our eyes — mine and Matilda’s — Miss Truchbull’s house was a multistorey assault course to be conquered.
Fans of the 1996 film version of Matilda will be familiar with the Victorian facade of Crank House, with its overgrown porch and creaky front steps. In the film, Matilda (played by Mara Wilson) bravely ventures inside in pursuit of her Lissy doll, with her timid accomplice Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz) in tow. Inches from retrieving their prize, Trunchbull (played by Pam Ferris, pictured above) storms in. Soft light from the floor-to-ceiling windows would be idyllic in any other home. But here it creates an ominous shadow, her immense frame beamed on the walls, ceiling and floors.
During the chase that ensues, Miss Honey causes a distraction by hurling a shot put on the hardwood floor while Matilda sprints down the labyrinthine corridor for the stairs. There seems to be no end to the levels and secret passageways as they turn each corner. When the intruders reconvene, yet another door opens — this time to the cobweb and clutter-filled cellar. Their escape is narrow, through a seedy trap door.
Stranger things have happened in Crank House, where these scenes were shot. Located in Los Angeles County, California, it is Hollywood’s go-to house of high jinks, popping up in Hocus Pocus and Catch Me If You Can. In Scream 2, it is the Omega Beta Zeta sorority house where Cici Cooper (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is pushed from the second-floor balcony to her untimely death. From identical heights, Matilda uses her telekinesis to levitate the doll safely into her arms. She could turn and go, but not without causing a little mayhem first.
When my family upgraded to a bigger house fit for six, it was the home us kids had always wanted. We had carpeted stairs and multiple landings. We didn’t have a cellar, but we did have an attic and a shed. These might seem like mundane things, but they offered space for exploration and play, just as Miss Trunchbull's home did for Matilda. It was a place where she could be a typical, mischievous kid.
At the end of the film “The Trunch” is run out of town by “paranormal activities”. The house falls to her niece, the rightful owner, Miss Honey, who takes Matilda under her care. No more cobwebs, beckoning shadows, and most importantly, no mischief lost. The pair transform the mansion into a massive playground. A game of tag in the newly manicured garden replete with bright flowers reminds me of the giddy freedom rolling around our garden when it was new.
We are now in the thick of winter, and the trees are fruitless. I long to go back to those summer days of childish play.
Photography: Maximum Film/Alamy Stock Photo
