Stiff Upper Lips
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| Stiff Upper Lips | |
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| Directed by | Gary Sinyor |
| Produced by | Nigel Savage Babs Thomas Stephen Margolis Keith Richardson Bobby Bedi Ricky Posner Nigel Savage |
| Written by | Paul Simpkin and Gary Sinyor |
| Starring | Sean Pertwee Georgina Cates Prunella Scales Peter Ustinov Samuel West Robert Portal |
| Editing by | Peter Hollywood |
| Distributed by | Miramax |
| Release date(s) | 1998 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Stiff Upper Lips (1998) is a broad parody of British period films, especially the lavish Merchant-Ivory productions of the 'eighties and early 'nineties. Although it specifically targets A Room with a View, Chariots of Fire, Maurice, A Passage to India, and many other films, in a more general way Stiff Upper Lips satirises popular perceptions of certain Edwardian traits: propriety, sexual repression, xenophobia, and class snobbery.
The film was directed by Gary Sinyor and stars Sean Pertwee, Georgina Cates, Robert Portal, Samuel West, Prunella Scales, and Peter Ustinov. It was filmed on location in Italy, India, and on the Isle of Man.
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[edit] Plot Summary
England, 1908: Emily Ivory (Cates) is a wealthy young woman who lives with her Aunt Agnes (Scales) at Ivory's End, a large country house. At 22, as her aunt constantly reminds her, she is verging on spinsterhood. She meets her brother's best friend, Cedric Trilling (Portal), when the two come home from university. Aunt Agnes wants the two to fall in love: Cedric, however, is a pompous bore who is overly fond of quoting Homer on all sorts of not-quite-appropriate occasions; also, he's a repressed homosexual. When Emily's aunt sees the sparks failing to fly, she whisks everyone off to Italy, then India, hoping the romantic locations will bring on love.
Emily's eye, however, soon wanders to the family's new manservant, George (Pertwee), a sturdy peasant who, earlier in the film, had the effrontery to fling off all his clothes and save her life when she was drowning in a pond. Now, Emily can't seem to forget his tall, manly frame and his "ripping set of unmentionables." (George, a sort of Heathcliff/Gamekeeper/Working Class Hero hybrid, has a peculiar way of entering a room; he rushes in, slides to a stop in the middle of the floor with eyes blazing and one shoulder forward, and tosses his cap aside).
With George, Emily achieves carnal fulfillment, true love, and, eventually, motherhood and marriage. Although the upper-class characters disapprove of the alliance, nobody is more scandalised than George's father, who keeps reminding his son that he's "the scum of the earth." When Emily becomes pregnant, she suggests giving the child to George's father; George, appalled, begs her to sell it to pirates, abandon it on a mountain, or let it be raised by wolves instead.
Cedric, too, finds love with Edward (West), Emily's handsome, cheerful twit of a brother. In that era, it was "the love that dare not speak its name"; however, during Emily's wedding scene, Edward takes Cedric's arm and shouts "WE LOVE EACH OTHER!!!" in church. Even Aunt Agnes meets someone special - an expatriate Englishman (Ustinov) who owns a tea plantation in India. At the end of the film, despite class differences, sexual taboos, and age prejudice, everyone seems likely to lead happy, sexually fulfilled lives ever after.
[edit] Critical Reception
Stiff Upper Lips received mediocre reviews; while most critics agreed that the cinematic world needs a Merchant-Ivory parody, they were disappointed by the film's overreliance on sexual and toilet humour.
[edit] Quotes
Edward and Cedric disembark from a train; the conductor asks them for their tickets. They both ignore him.
Edward (petulantly, to Cedric): I do so hate ordinary people.
Cedric: You mustn't hate them; they have smaller brains.
Cedric is writing in his diary, recording his first impressions of Emily
Cedric (writing): There is something about her slim, elegant figure that rather reminds me of Edward....hmmmmmm.
The Butler, Hudson, bids farewell to his last remaining fellow-servant (Aunt Agnes has fired them all). Hudson has previously been seen serving tea, carrying mountains of luggage, and rolling the lawn; now he is in the kitchen, cooking the entire dinner singlehandedly.
Servant Girl: Can you manage on your own?
Hudson (proudly): I am a Hudson.
Servant Girl: Do you never get bitter?
Hudson doesn't reply, but stands there looking inscrutable; then several bells summoning service begin to ring, and his upper lip trembles slightly.
Servant Girl (awed): Never?
She leaves; when she's gone, Hudson removes a pot from the stove, sets it on the floor, and urinates into the soup.
Emily and Cedric sit at an outdoor table having tea and discussing their impending marriage.
Emily: Soon we will be man and wife.
Cedric (pompously): Or, as the poet Homer says...
Before he can finish his sentence, Emily snatches up a butter knife and buries it in his skull. Cedric squints at the hilt sticking out of his temple and scowls. Emily then awakes from her nightmare screaming.
[edit] Cast notes
Samuel West is Prunella Scales' son. Both also appeared in Merchant-Ivory's film adaptation of Howard's End, although they had no scenes together.
[edit] External links
- Stiff Upper Lips at Internet Movie Database.
- Some general information about Stiff Upper Lips from Masterpiece Theatre, which aired the film in 2000.
- A selection of reviews from RottenTomatoes.com.
