Directed by:
Harold PinterCinematography:
Gerry FisherCast:
Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy, Georgina Hale, Michael Byrne, Richard O'Callaghan, Susan Wooldridge, Derrick O'Connor, Darein Angadi, John Savident, Jill GoldstonPlots(1)
On any given day Ben Butley, a self-made train wreck of an English literature professor at a London University, can shrug off everyone and everything with equal ease. But today, the disaster of Butley's proudly misspent life threatens to dwarf even his cynically fatalistic non-expectations. Arriving at his cramped cave of an office, Butley is informed that his adored protégé is moving in with another man, his estranged wife is re-marrying and his seemingly untalented colleague has been published ahead of him. As embodied by Alan Bates, Butley falls back on the surgically precise wit and savage eloquence that helped put him in his current circumstance in the first place. The blitzkrieg of vitriolic commentary with which Butley engages lovers, students, rivals and allies, all with equal ferocity, becomes a glass bottom boat illuminating the churning depths of his bankrupted soul. (Kino Lorber)
(more)Cast
Alan Bates
UK
Best movies:
The Rose (1979)
Alexis Zorbas (1964)
Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
Jessica Tandy
UK
Best movies:
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
The Valley of Decision (1945)
Georgina Hale
UK
Best movies:
McVicar (1980)
Voyage of the Damned (1976)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
Michael Byrne
UK
Best movies:
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Braveheart (1995)
Hornblower: The Even Chance (1998) (TV movie)
Richard O'Callaghan
UK
Best movies:
Watership Down (1978)
Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Dalziel and Pascoe (1996) (series)
Susan Wooldridge
UK
Best movies:
The Last Place on Earth (1985) (series)
Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989) (series)
Hope and Glory (1987)
Derrick O'Connor
Ireland
Best movies:
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
Brazil (1985)
Hope and Glory (1987)
Darein Angadi
UK
Best movies:
Antony and Cleopatra (1974) (TV movie)
The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980) (TV movie)
John Savident
UK
Best movies:
Gandhi (1982)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Jill Goldston
Best movies:
Aliens (1986)
L'Homme éléphant (1980)
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)