Wetherby (1985)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

David Hare

Writer:

David Hare (writer)

Release Date:

19 July 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot Keywords:

Policewoman | Jewish Humor | Cat | Reference To Richard Nixon | Fight

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 wins

Cast

Vanessa Redgrave	...	Jean Travers
Ian Holm	...	Stanley Pilborough
Judi Dench	...	Marcia Pilborough
Stuart Wilson	...	Mike Langdon
Tim McInnerny	...	John Morgan
Suzanna Hamilton	...	Karen Creasy
Tom Wilkinson	...	Roger Braithwaite
Marjorie Yates	...	Verity Braithwaite
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Katy Behean	...	Young Marcia
Ted Beyer	...	Police Sergeant
Patrick Blackwell	...	Derek
Ian Bleasdale	...	Neurotic Teacher
Howard Crossley	...	Policeman
Penny Downie	...	Chrissie
David Foreman	...	Young Malay
Christopher Fulford	...	Arthur
Matthew Guinness	...	Randall
Robert Hines	...	Jim Mortimer
Mike Kelly	...	CID Policeman
Bert King	...	Mr. Mortimer
Richard Marris	...	Sir Thomas
Peter Martin	...	Helpful Parent
Norman Mills	...	Drama Teacher
Guy Nicholls	...	Mr. Varley
Joely Richardson	...	Young Jean Travers
Vanessa Rosenthal	...	Pretentious Parent
Marjorie Sudell	...	Lily
Paula Tilbrook	...	Mrs. Mortimer
Diane Whitley	...	Policewoman

Directed by
David Hare

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
David Hare		writer

Produced by
Patsy Pollock	....	associate producer
Simon Relph	....	producer

Original Music by
Nick Bicât

Cinematography by
Stuart Harris

Film Editing by
Chris Wimble

Production Design by
Hayden Griffin

Art Direction by
Jamie Leonard

Costume Design by
Jane Greenwood
Lindy Hemming

Makeup Department
Christopher Tucker	....	special makeup effects artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ian Madden	....	assistant director
Asad Qureshi	....	third assistant director

Sound Department
Gerry Humphreys	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Ashley Kennedy	....	best boy
Shaun O'Dell	....	camera operator
Micky Thomas	....	gaffer

Music Department
Tony Britten	....	conductor
Tony Britten	....	music arranger

Transportation Department
Richard Booz	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Mike Dempsey	....	title designer
Laura Julian	....	production coordinator
Sarah Lucraft	....	assistant accountant

Production Companies

• Film Four International
• Greenpoint Films
• Zenith Entertainment

Distributors

• MGM/UA Classics (1985-) (USA) (theatrical)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Palace Video (1985) (UK) (VHS)
• Palace Video (1985) (UK) (video) (Betamax)
• Taipan Vídeo (Brazil) (video)

Other Companies

• Film Wheels Ltd.  transport
• Joe Dunton & Company  camera equipment provided by
• Lee Lighting  lighting

Runtime:

USA:102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Film Four International

Trivia:

Rumor has it that _David Hare (I)_ created the role of June Travis, played by _Vanessa Redgrave_, in order to examine Prime Minister _Margaret Thatcher_ as a product of British history.

Quotes:

Stanley Pilborough: I expect good of nobody... and I'm sometimes pleasantly surprised. When I find good, my first feeling is one of nostalgia for something we've lost. Ask John Morgan...
John Morgan: Well, I don't know. I only know goodness... and anger... and revenge and evil and desire. These seem to me far better words then 'neurosis' and 'psychology' and 'paranoia'. These old words, these good old words have a sort of... conviction... which all this modern apparatus of language now lacks. We bury these words, these simple feelings. We bury them deep. And all the building over that constitutes this century will not wish these feelings away.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Krótki film o zabijaniu (1988)

bizarre

Another puzzle movie where there is are ludicrously scrambled pieces. If this is all about loneliness and despair, look at how much more gripping something like The Entertainer is. There is something extremely shallow about this film: I guess if you want to make something about despair and keep it really boring, really empty, voila, then people can read about what they want the full extent of their own despair and loneliness into it.

Probably one of the reviewers here is very right: Pinter seems always lurking in the wings of any scene. Hare, however is certainly his own man, very determined fellow to lead us nowhere with some kind of minor supine surprise at the end, to let us think we have solved the Rosebud mystery of this movie: like Kane, another jigsaw puzzle of a movie.

Even Kubrick's The Killing, another scrambled movie, though hardly on this scale, would have been better told straight forwardly.

Moreover, notice the blah response of the great unwashed public to this film. This baby shot past them on quiet rails in the dead of night, because it was just too tortured for its own good.

As for a great performance by Redgrave, well, sure. The woman cannot deliver a single unbelievable line. She is one of the great great actress of all time: spooky how she disappears into every role she ever did.

The only real puzzle for me, is...you guessed it. Why did they ever bother to shoot the first reel.