Wish You Were Here (1987 film)
Wish You Were Here | |
---|---|
Directed by | David Leland |
Written by | David Leland |
Produced by | Sarah Radclyffe |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Ian Wilson |
Edited by | George Akers |
Music by | Stanley Myers |
Distributed by | Palace Pictures[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £1.2 million[2][3] |
Box office | $3,283,832 |
Wish You Were Here is a 1987 British comedy-drama film written and directed by David Leland and starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell.[4] The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers.[4] The story is loosely based on the formative years of Cynthia Payne.
Plot[]
Sixteen-year-old Lynda Mansell lives in a small English seaside town in the early 1950s. She is feisty, outspoken and precocious and tries to shock other people with her histrionic behaviour and vulgar tongue (her favourite insult is "Up yer bum"). Bored with conventional jobs (which she frequently loses) and her town's dull young men, Lynda has her first sexual experience with Dave but after she has slept with one of her father's middle-aged friends, her life changes. She becomes pregnant and her father, a somewhat rigid and conventional man, disowns her. Desperately she tries to seek an illegal abortion but in the end decides to become a mother.
Cast[]
- Emily Lloyd as Lynda Mansell
- Charlotte Ball as Lynda (aged 11)
- Tom Bell as Eric
- Jesse Birdsall as Dave
- Clare Clifford as Mrs. Parfitt
- Barbara Durkin as Valerie
- Geoffrey Hutchings as Hubert Mansell
- Charlotte Barker as Gillian
- Chloë Leland as Margaret
- Abigail Leland as Margaret (aged 7)
- Pat Heywood as Aunt Millie
- Geoffrey Durham as Harry Figgis
- Neville Smith as Cinema manager
- Heathcote Williams as Dr. Holroyd
- Val McLane as Maisie Mathews
- Susan Skipper as Lynda's Mother
- Lee Whitlock as Brian
- Sheila Kelley as Joan Figgis
Production[]
The film was based loosely on the memoirs of the British madam Cynthia Payne as an adolescent growing up on the Sussex coast.[5] It was filmed in the Sussex towns of Brighton, Worthing, and Bognor Regis.
Reception[]
Wish You Were Here has an overall approval rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews.[6] Roger Ebert gave the film 3½ stars out of four, praising Lloyd's performance as "one of the great debut roles for a young actress".[7]
The film made £2,994,209 at the UK box office.[3]
Awards and honours[]
- 1987: Evening Standard British Film Awards Emily Lloyd for Best Actress
- 1987: National Society of Film Critics Emily Lloyd for Best Actress
- 1987: International Federation of Film Critics prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival[8]
- 1988: BAFTA Award David Leland for Best Screenplay
- 1988: BAFTA Award Nomination Best Actress
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "Wish You Were Here (1987)". BBFC. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ "RODERICK MANN: NOW LELAND CAN SPELL 'SUCCESS'". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. 1 August 1987. pp. E1.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 31.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Maslin, Janet (24 July 1987). "Wish You Were Here (1987) FILM: 'WISH YOU WERE HERE'". The New York Times.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Wish You Were Here". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ "Wish You Were Here". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (31 July 1987). "Wish You Were Here". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 25 September 2014.
- ^ "Awards 1987". International Federation of Film Critic. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018.
External links[]
- 1987 films
- English-language films
- 1980s coming-of-age comedy-drama films
- 1987 independent films
- 1980s teen comedy-drama films
- British films
- British coming-of-age comedy-drama films
- British independent films
- British teen comedy-drama films
- Films about dysfunctional families
- Films about widowhood
- Films set in the 1950s
- Films set in Sussex
- Films set on beaches
- Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award
- Juvenile sexuality in films
- Teenage pregnancy in film
- Films directed by David Leland
- Films scored by Stanley Myers
- 1987 directorial debut films