Genre: tragicomic biography
Director: Stephen Frears
Release: 1987
Studio: Civilhand Productions et al. – Samuel Goldwyn Company
Rating: R
MBiS score: 8.4/10
To Be Gay, Free and Mischievous
Sensing trouble in a London flat, a policeman enters forcibly and finds Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina) in a state of shock and a dead body lying on the floor. The cultural world has just lost one of its rising stars, playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman). With Vanessa Redgrave (Peggy Ramsay), Wallace Shawn (John Lahr), Julie Walters (Elsie, Joe’s mother), James Grant (William Orton, his father) and Frances Barber (Leonie, his sister).
After a nightmarish opening sequence, PRICK UP YOUR EARS changes gears and patiently weaves Joe Orton’s life with the help of Peggy Ramsay, his editor, and John Lahr, an American who undertook to write his biography. Quite frankly, I have long avoided this film – because its story did not appeal much to me and biopics, as a genre, often miss the mark – but its colourful characters, hilarious script and inspired acting simply bowled me over.
First of all, you could write a book – in fact, John Lahr did a fine job of it – about Joe’s journey from family misfit to established playwright and his association with Kenneth, his humorously morose partner and lover. These two characters form such a great and mismatched pair that everything they share becomes an event. Their reading habits, what they eat, Joe’s relative imperviousness to fame and his openly gay stance in a closeted world, Kenneth’s frequent complaints about Joe’s promiscuity, all of these elements make up a lively, spellbinding piece of entertainment delivered with formidable aplomb by Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina. For the most part, Oldman plays it straight (pun intended) but his occasional smiles reveal a fun-loving trickster underneath Orton’s serious persona. As for Molina, when his ever-repressed character cuts loose and lets his temper flare up, the results are devastatingly funny. If that weren’t enough, this tempestuous duo is supported by a great cast, especially Vanessa Redgrave playing a prime witness to the highs and lows of Orton’s career.
Technically speaking, PRICK UP YOUR EARS is no extravaganza. Its production values are low-fi but pleasing nonetheless. The movie aptly captures the exuberant mood of the late 50s and early 60s – the Beatles in their heyday, a bustling art scene, the first stages of the sexual revolution – and benefits from Stephen Frears’crafty direction. I found Stanley Myers’ score jaunty and entirely appropriate for such a quirky movie; Alan Bennett’s screenplay and Mick Audsley’s editing are also top-notch. Overall, the movie serves as a fine character study and also deals with the creative process, the relationship between reality and fiction and the role of a muse in the artistic realm; on the negative side, it lacks insight into Orton’s plays and overall oeuvre but, in today’s Internet world, anyone can learn more about them with a click here and there.
That being said, follow my advice. Don’t let this original, engrossing and very amusing romp slip away from you… reach for it at your earliest convenience. This memorable pic on a writer’s early travails, his daring break from conventions and his eventual success should be on any movie buff’s must-see list.
MBiS
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