Another Country (1984)

Director:

Marek Kanievska

Writer:

Julian Mitchell (play)

Release Date:

June 1984 (UK)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The smash hit London play now a big screen event . . . not to be missed! [Australia theatrical]

Plot:

Based on the life of the young Guy Burgess, who would become better known as one of the Cambridge Spies.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Communist | 1930s | Scandal | British Army

Awards:

Nominated for 3 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Rupert Everett	...	Guy Bennett
Colin Firth	...	Tommy Judd
Michael Jenn	...	Barclay
Robert Addie	...	Delahay
Rupert Wainwright	...	Donald Devenish
Tristan Oliver	...	Fowler
Cary Elwes	...	James Harcourt
Frederick Alexander	...	Jim Menzies
Adrian Ross Magenty	...	Wharton
Geoffrey Bateman	...	Yevgeni
Philip Dupuy	...	Martineau
Guy Henry	...	Head Boy
Jeffrey Wickham	...	Arthur
John Line	...	Best Man
Gideon Boulting	...	Trafford

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Althorp House, Althorp, Northamptonshire, England, UK

Company:

Castlezone

Trivia:

In the original West End play of "Another County" that ran in London in 1982, Kenneth Branagh, at age 22, originated and played the part of Judd. In the movie the part was given to Colin Firth. Firth had also been in the original play but had played the character Bennett. Rupert Everett repeated the same role he had played on stage. Ironically, it had been Branagh who won the Society of West End Theatre award that year for 'Most Promising Newcomer' for his part in the play. In 1987 both Firth and Branagh would co-star in the movie 'A Month in the Country'.

Quotes:

Fowler: Are you trying to be clever or something?
Tommy Judd: I don't have to try, I am clever.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wanderlust (2006) (TV)

An overlooked important movie.

Forget the prologue which preludes the long flashback which is the core of the movie.First scene:in a room,two boys make love while,in the main courtyard of the posh school (Eton?),a ceremony commemorates the dead soldier of WW1,with pump and circumstance:the two bedrocks of the family, Army and Religion taking in hand the third one:School.Behind these walls,inside these venerable buildings,mortal hatred ,intolerance and repression are looming.Outside,the splendid landscapes are unchanging,particularly this quiet river which comes back as a leitmotiv.And most of the students wants to keep the world as it is,because they know they are part of the privileged few.Their studies are a mere rehearsal of their life-to-be. Becoming a prefect,what a feat! Being called "god" what a honor! Being able to push the others out of your way,that makes you a man!

Two young men refuse the rules of the game:the first one ,Tommy (a good Colin Firth),the most loyal character of a rather obnoxious. gathering.He sticks to his ideals,and he will die for them.He believes in Marx and in Stalin(we're in the thirties ) ;he would never betray anybody,and the audience sides with him most of the time. The second one ,Guy,(Rupert Everett at his best)is a gay,in love with a younger pal.He,too,rebels against this rigid institutions,but he's more complex:actually he tries to become a prefect and then a god,because he has kept his ambitions and he would easily opt for a compromise solution.He could but he will not..Homosexuality,when it's secret is no problem for the bourgeois society.Guy's character will mute and finally he realizes that he cannot live in the shadow.That's his downfall.

No commies,no gays can be part of the crème de la crème.The posh school reputation,once the non-straight ones(in the general sense of the word)are eradicated,can sleep the sleep of the just.

Sometimes compared with Lindsay Anderson's "If"(1970),its atmosphere is drastically different though :there's no dreamlike sequences here,no madness.It rather recalls "der junge Torless" (Schloendorff,1966)and it might have influenced James Ivory's "Maurice" (1986). An overlooked important movie.