Plenty (1985)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Fred Schepisi

Writers:

David Hare (play)
David Hare (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 September 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

She would settle for nothing less...

Plot:

A young Englishwoman spends 20 years to make whatever kind of life for herself at the expense of others around her in post-World War 2 England.

Plot Keywords:

Resistance | Spy | WWII | Based On Play | Independent Film

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 2 wins

Cast

Meryl Streep	...	Susan Traherne
Charles Dance	...	Raymond Brock
Tracey Ullman	...	Alice Park
John Gielgud	...	Sir Leonard Darwin
Sting	...	Mick
Ian McKellen	...	Sir Andrew Charleson
Sam Neill	...	Lazar
Burt Kwouk	...	Mr. Aung
André Maranne	...	Villon
Pik Sen Lim	...	Madame Aung
Ian Wallace	...	Medlicoti
Tristram Jellinek	...	Dawncey
Peter Forbes-Robertson	...	Brussells Hotel Manager
Hugo De Vernier	...	Doctor
James Taylor	...	Tony (dead man)

Runtime:

121 min | UK:124 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Company:

Pressman Productions

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "Plenty" by David Hare opened at the Plymouth Theater in New York on January 6, 1983, ran for 92 performances and was nominated for the 1983 Tony Award for the Best Play.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Queen Elizabeth II's coronation was in 1953, yet the flag display includes the Canadian "maple leaf" flag which was not adopted until later.

Quotes:

Susan Traherne: You don't understand the figures in my mind!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Killing Floor (2007)

A post WWII world seen through English eyes

David Hare's brilliant stage play has been translated beautifully to the screen. The peculiar English trait of natural melancholy radiates throughout this sad exercise of seeing all through the lens of British class consciousness, repression and despair. The color photography, the performances, the stifling framing of the widescreen shots all add to the oppressive beauty of a story about the self-destruction of a preternaturally beautiful woman. Mery Streep has never been better before or since. Hare makes her intellectual acuity a weapon against herself as she sees through all the ghastly pretenses of a corroding Empire. No insight, no beauty of body, no letting go of formality and pretense can save her from herself. Feminism itself is taken to the burning stake as Streep's character thrashes, Hedda Gabbler like, against walls and prohibitions beyond her understanding. Rarely has such condemnation looked so ravishing.