To George Orwell, an aspidistra was a sign of a bourgeois household. In this film derived from Orwell's (partly autobiographicl) novel, when George Comstock, played by Richard E Grant, is handed an aspidistra by his landlady in a seedy shared house in London, he knows that he has not left his bourgeois roots behind.
Orwell's novel forms the basis for this likeable romantic comedy. It traces the fortunes of an advertising copywriter who, attracted by the idea of life as an impoverished artist, gives up his job in the hope of becoming a poet. The film looks wonderful, and takes its 1930s look from the magnificent art deco office where the central character is employed at the start. And the dialogue moves at a good pace, even if the social satire is neither as relevant nor as pointed as it would have been in Orwell's time.
Richard E Grant plays opposite Helena Bonham Carter, as his girlfriend Rosemary - who also works within the same advertising business. The dynamic between the two principal characters is well portrayed - though at times one wonders why they bothered to stay in contact at all... The transition between affluent London and the slums of Lambeth also comes across well. And while to contemporary Londoners such a contrast looks implausible, in the 1930s there was little gentrification around areas such as Lambeth.
'Keep the Aspidistra Flying' was criticised, as an opening film for the London Film Festival, for being insuffuciently bold an innovative. But it remains an enjoyable and well-made and fine-looking film.
-- Martin Rich Phone(0171) 477 8627 Fax(0171) 477 8628 Lecturer in Information Management City University Business School Frobisher Crescent Barbican Centre, London EC2Y 8HB, UK M.G.Rich@city.ac.uk http://www.city.ac.uk/martin
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