PRICK UP YOUR EARS
A film review by Thuan N. P. Nguyen
Copyright 1987 Thuan N. P. Nguyen
Summary: This new movie directed by Stephen Frears (THE HIT, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE) chronicles the relationship between British playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The story is [humorously] told through flashbacks and interviews with Orton's agent and relatives. The sixteen years from the time Orton meets Halliwell to the time Halliwell bludgeons Orton to death are basically scenes from a failed marriage. The frankness of the movie was touching although it might disturb prudish viewers. I would rate it a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Frears begins the movie with the murder-suicide, which makes the viewer wonder about the causes of the tragedy. The events which follow, though hilariously funny at times, are always shadowed by the knowledge that they are contributing to the couple's doom. I was reminded of a movie called DANCE WITH A STRANGER about Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She shot her boyfriend, played by dashing Rupert Everett, after a sordid and destructive affair. In both movies, the audience knows that a human time bomb is ticking away but is helpless to defuse it.
PRICK UP YOUR EARS (which Joe Orton would pronounce "Prick up your rear") contains flashbacks taken from Orton's diaries and re-enacted interviews with Orton's agent, Peggy, and with his sister. Peggy is played by Vanessa Redgrave with a coolly satirical attitude. My favorite line from the movie is spoken by Peggy as Orton's sister is mixing his ashes with that of Halliwell. The sister was fretting over the exact proportion of the men's ashes that should be mixed in the urn. Peggy calmly says to her "It's a *gesture*, Dear, not a recipe." Joe Orton is played by Gary Oldman and Kenneth Halliwell by Alfred Molina. Both performances were unforgettable. Oldman's wickedly charismatic smile, when photographed in shadow, mixed innocent boyish features with irresistible sexual appeal: half satyr and half angel. As he is watching the Queen's coronation on TV with his new roommate, Halliwell reaches over and stroked Orton's thigh for the first time. Orton quietly says "This is a new experience for me..........television" and grins rogueishly. :-) Molina was perfect as the frustrated and neglected "wife". Just before the murder, he looks at himself in the mirror, rubs his bald head and says "I'm an only child. I was an orphan at 18. Bald by 20. I'm a homosexual. It's all the right ingredients for an artist. So why is *HE* the success!!!" After he bludgeons his lover with the hammer, he notices the award for the Best Play of the Year (a human statuette) on the desk. He picks it up and said "I should have hit him with this--more theatrical." :-)
The heart of the movie is about the gradual decline of a marriage as one partner achieves fame and the other is left in drudgery and obscurity. Sadly, it was Halliwell who was the bright young star when they began their relationship. However, near the end, Orton was the acclaimed one and was getting a job offer from the Beatles. Orton did not share the spotlight with Halliwell. Perhaps it was fear of being publicly exposed as a gay man. Perhaps Orton was selfish (actually, he did seem to be quite selfish). Halliwell suffered in neglect and abuse and ... he blew up.
There are many more wonderful details in this tragic story which I recommend highly to anyone who enjoys black comedies. I believe that this movie is Stephen Frears best (of his works that I have seen).
Thuan Nguyen
...ucbvax!sim!thuan
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