Absorbing character study as well as a satire on the guilt ridden White bourgeoisie: The middle class who thinks they are not bourgeois. These are lonely and alienated people who think anything is better than nothing – especially in sexual relationships – who struggle vainly to make something out of that nothing. All of this leads to nothing more than the sexual promiscuity on offer here, not integral, fulfilling interpersonal relations.
If you are happy to laugh at the White English, there is a lot of fun to be had here. Especially as regard the lack of an intuitive base to a culture that lacks a clearly defined social life because Western culture is subject to so much technological change that it is hard to keep abreast of such changes. This explains the confusion on the faces of most of the performers. Reflecting the fact that the world changes are something they can never hope to keep up with until and unless they start reconnecting with their real emotions rather than the false emoting of the self conscious, Hampstead liberals parodied here. Mores change as science changes but our ability to keep up with them is slower that the apparently relentless pace of technology. In fact, the more we try to keep up the more old fashioned we seem.
Without this strong satirical edge, this drama could easily become all too depressing as it accurately depicts those who did not have a normal childhood because their parents refused to grow up. Moreover, it proves the inherent evil of Political Correctness (PC) in its desire to silence all criticism of PC as reactionary.
All of the relationships on show here lack any true substance and are based on need rather than love. The movie is about the poor communication skills of those who spend inordinate amounts of time with their mouths wide open and their ears firmly shut. Spending more time on the telephone than in company. This very good observational movie contains too little analysis of what it observes. It is resolutely stuck in the worldview of the characters it observes.
The cast is fantastic and is a veritable Who's Who of then (1971) British acting talent.
Copyright © 2009 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
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