Directed by Mike Leigh • 1977 • United Kingdom
Starring Alison Steadman, Tim Stern, Janine Duvitski
Mike Leigh’s filmed version of his acclaimed stage play is a brilliantly biting comedy of manners that lays bare the bourgeois affectations and sexual frustrations of a young suburban couple. Abigail’s mother, Sue (Harriet Reynolds), is invited to take refuge from her teenage daughter’s party by a neighboring couple, Beverly (Alison Steadman) and Laurence (Tim Stern). They have also invited Angela (Janine Duvitski) and Tony (John Salthouse), new arrivals on the street. As Beverly plies her guests with alcohol, Sue becomes increasingly withdrawn and embarrassed by the pretentious goings-on—with marital tensions gradually revealing the cracks in the delusional facade.
Up Next in Mike Leigh at the BBC
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Hard Labour
Directed by Mike Leigh • 1973 • United Kingdom
Starring Liz Smith, Clifford Kershaw, Polly HemingwayMike Leigh’s first television drama is also one of his most autobiographical works, set in the same neighborhood where he grew up in Salford in Northern England. Mrs. Thornley (Liz Smith, in a po...
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The Kiss of Death
Directed by Mike Leigh • 1977 • United Kingdom
Starring David Threlfall, Kay Adshead, Angela CurranCited by Mike Leigh as one of his personal favorites among his own works, THE KISS OF DEATH is a mordantly funny portrait of Trevor (David Threlfall), a terminally shy mortician’s assistant who st...
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Who’s Who
Directed by Mike Leigh • 1979 • United Kingdom
Starring Richard Kane, Joolia Cappleman, Phil DavisWith this caustically observed comedy, Mike Leigh crafted a scathingly funny satire of a group of wealth- and image-obsessed London yuppies. Centering on Alan (Richard Kane)—a social-climbing emplo...
