The Ploughman's Lunch: Difference between revisions

The Ploughman's Lunch
The Ploughman's Lunch
	First edition cover; (published screenplay)
Directed by	Richard Eyre
Written by	Ian McEwan
Produced by	Simon Relph; Ann Scott
Starring	Jonathan Pryce; Tim Curry; Charlie Dore; Rosemary Harris; Frank Finlay
Cinematography	Clive Tickner
Edited by	David Martin
Music by	Dominic Muldowney
Production; company	Goldcrest Films
Distributed by	Virgin Films
Release date	May 1983 (United Kingdom);
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

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The Ploughman's Lunch is a 1983 British drama film written by Ian McEwan and directed by Richard Eyre, starring Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry and Rosemary Harris.

The film examines the mass media in Margaret Thatcher's Britain around the time of the Falklands War. It was part of Channel 4's Film on Four strand, enjoying a critically lauded theatrical release before the television screenings.^[1]

Plot

James Penfield is an ambitious London-based BBC radio reporter, from humble origins but Oxford-educated. He is commissioned to write a book on the Suez Crisis, claiming not to be a socialist; at that time, the Falklands War is dominating the British media.

He is attracted to Susan Barrington, a snobbish upper-class TV journalist, to whom he is introduced by his Oxford friend Jeremy Hancock, a fellow TV journalist. Although James is persistent, he cannot get further than a late night kiss from her and so Jeremy suggests that he contact her mother, the prominent left-wing historian Ann Barrington, who lives in Norfolk and is married to the advertising film director Matthew Fox. After learning that Ann wrote an article on the Suez Crisis on its tenth anniversary, James hopes to seduce the daughter by befriending the mother.

Now claiming in Ann's company to be a socialist, James soon finds himself spending more time with her than with her daughter; they have several long discussions and take long walks on the Norfolk Broads. Meanwhile, James' mother is dying and, James having earlier said to Susan that his parents were dead in order to disguise his origins, he is forced to identify her only as a relative when his father contacts him while he is with Ann. Returning to London, he is forced to ask for help from members of a women's peace camp after suffering a puncture. Initially mistaken for another BBC man, he shows some feigned sympathy towards the group protesting against the use of force outside a Norfolk airbase. Visiting Norfolk again a week later with an uninterested Susan, James walks alone with Ann, who kisses him and later has sex with him.

James returns to his work in London. Over a ploughman's lunch and beer with Matthew Fox, Fox consents to James making love to his wife, since the two have slept in separate beds for the last three years. James refuses to take calls from Ann when she attempts to contact him at the BBC. He finally has another Oxford friend, an up-and-coming young poet, call her to end the relationship, while he sits idly by reading advertisements in Exchange and Mart.

James, Jeremy and Susan travel to Brighton together in James' Jaguar to cover the 1982 Conservative Party Conference. At the start of the conference, James begins to suspect that the other two are romantically involved, and asks Jeremy if he is up to something. Later, during the conference, he attempts to talk to Susan but she brushes him off; he then sees her and Jeremy caressing each other, having returned from a hotel room. The conference finishes with Thatcher's closing address as she rouses popular support following the Falklands War, and afterwards James confronts Jeremy in the Brighton Centre conference hall, rebuking him for having betrayed him; Jeremy tells him that he has known Susan for fifteen years and that they are "old allies".

James has a conversation with his publisher about the success of his book. He then attends his mother's funeral, standing grim-faced and aloof at his father's side, as he impatiently checks his watch.

Cast

Jonathan Pryce as James Penfield
Tim Curry as Jeremy Hancock
Charlie Dore as Susan Barrington
Rosemary Harris as Ann Barrington
Frank Finlay as Matthew Fox
David de Keyser as Gold
Bill Paterson as Lecturer
Nat Jackley as Mr. Penfield
David Lyon as Newsreader
Orlando Wells as Tom Fox

Reception

In The New York Times, Vincent Canby praised the film: "James Penfield, the journalist who glowers at the center of the fine new English film The Ploughman's Lunch, is a fascinating variation on all of the angry, low-born young men who populated British novels and plays in the late 1950s and 60s. Although he denies it, he is angry. At one point he says: 'You do everything right and you feel nothing. Either way.' His problem is that he feels everything all too acutely, but it doesn't make him a better person, only more devious. James Penfield is Jimmy Porter of Look Back in Anger updated to the 1980s, specifically to London during the 1982 Falkland war and the Tory leadership of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Ploughman's Lunch, the first theatrical film to be written by Ian McEwan and directed by Richard Eyre, is a witty, bitter tale of duplicity and opportunism in both private and public life...This is tricky stuff, but The Ploughman's Lunch blends fact with fiction with astonishing success."^[1]

Box office

Goldcrest Films invested £398,000 in the movie and received £271,000, a loss £127,000.^[2]

The film was seen by 1.7 million people on UK television.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b Canby, Vincent (19 October 1984). "'The Ploughman's Lunch', An Exercise in Duplicity". The New York Times.
- McCrum, Robert (23 January 2002). "The Story of His Life". The Observer.
^ Eberts, Jake; Illott, Terry (1990). My indecision is final. Faber and Faber. p. 657. ISBN 9780571148882 – via Internet Archive.

External links

McCrum, Robert (23 January 2005). "Review: The story of his life". The Observer.
The Ploughman's Lunch at IMDb
The Ploughman's Lunch at the BFI's Screenonline

[Canby-1] Canby, Vincent (19 October 1984). "'The Ploughman's Lunch', An Exercise in Duplicity". The New York Times.
- McCrum, Robert (23 January 2002). "The Story of His Life". The Observer.

[2] Eberts, Jake; Illott, Terry (1990). My indecision is final. Faber and Faber. p. 657. ISBN 9780571148882 – via Internet Archive.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{for|the type of meal|Ploughman's lunch}}
+{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
-[[Image:PloughmansLunch.jpg|thumb|First edition cover|right]]
+{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
+{{Infobox film
+| name           = The Ploughman's Lunch
+| image          = PloughmansLunch.jpg
+| caption        = First edition cover<br />(published screenplay)
+| director       = [[Richard Eyre]]
+| producer       = [[Simon Relph]]<br />Ann Scott
+| writer         = [[Ian McEwan]]
+| starring       = [[Jonathan Pryce]]<br />[[Tim Curry]]<br />[[Charlie Dore]]<br />[[Rosemary Harris]]<br />[[Frank Finlay]]
+| music          = [[Dominic Muldowney]]
+| cinematography = Clive Tickner
+| editing        = David Martin
+| studio         = [[Goldcrest Films]]
+| distributor    = [[Virgin Films]]
+| released       = {{Film date|df=y|1983|5||United Kingdom}}
+| runtime        = 107 minutes
+| country        = United Kingdom
+| language       = English
+| budget         =
+| gross          =
+}}
+'''''The Ploughman's Lunch''''' is a 1983 British [[drama film]] written by [[Ian McEwan]] and directed by [[Richard Eyre]], starring [[Jonathan Pryce]], [[Tim Curry]] and [[Rosemary Harris]].
+The film examines the mass media in [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s Britain around the time of the [[Falklands War]]. It was part of [[Channel 4]]'s ''Film on Four'' strand, enjoying a critically lauded theatrical release before the television screenings.<ref name="Canby">{{cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |date=19 October 1984 |title='The Ploughman's Lunch', An Exercise in Duplicity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/19/movies/movies-the-ploughman-s-lunch-an-exercise-in-duplicity.html |work=The New York Times}}<br />- {{cite news |last=McCrum |first=Robert |author-link=Robert McCrum |date=23 January 2002 |title=The Story of His Life |work=The Observer}}</ref>
-'''''The Ploughman's Lunch''''' is a [[1983 in film|1983]] film written by [[Ian McEwan]] and directed by [[Richard Eyre]] and featuring [[Jonathan Pryce]], [[Tim Curry]] and [[Rosemary Harris]].
-The film represents an studied analysis of the media world in Thatcher's Britain during the time of the Falkland's War. It was one of the first films to feature in Channel 4's inaugural 'Film on Four' season in 1982, enjoying a successful and critically lauded theatrical release prior to its television screening.
-Ian McEwan's script uncovers a creeping moral and emotional decay in the values of its middle class, and it looks despondently on the nature of history, the cannabalism of the truth - for example in the advertising industry - and focuses on hungry, unhappy and at their core cynical people. The early eighties, when the events transpire, are shot in a grey, moody half-light by Richard Eyre, and show a world of uncaring shapeless politics under the domination Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government.
 == Plot ==
+James Penfield is an ambitious London-based [[BBC]] radio reporter, from humble origins but [[Oxford University|Oxford]]-educated. He is commissioned to write a book on the [[Suez Crisis]], claiming not to be a socialist; at that time, the [[Falklands War]] is dominating the British media.
+He is attracted to Susan Barrington, a snobbish upper-class TV journalist, to whom he is introduced by his Oxford friend Jeremy Hancock, a fellow TV journalist. Although James is persistent, he cannot get further than a late night kiss from her and so Jeremy suggests that he contact her mother, the prominent left-wing historian Ann Barrington, who lives in [[Norfolk]] and is married to the advertising film director Matthew Fox. After learning that Ann wrote an article on the Suez Crisis on its tenth anniversary, James hopes to seduce the daughter by befriending the mother.
-The films is set in London, Norfolk and Brighton, where the annual Conservative Conference is taking place. James Penfield [[(Jonathan Pryce)]] is an ambitious London-based BBC radio reporter, from humble origins but Oxford-educated. He has been commissioned to write a book on the Suez Crisis and undertakes this commission at the same time as the Falkland's War is starting to dominate the British media.
+Now claiming in Ann's company to be a socialist, James soon finds himself spending more time with her than with her daughter; they have several long discussions and take long walks on the [[The Broads|Norfolk Broads]]. Meanwhile, James' mother is dying and, James having earlier said to Susan that his parents were dead in order to disguise his origins, he is forced to identify her only as a relative when his father contacts him while he is with Ann. Returning to London, he is forced to ask for help from members of a women's peace camp after suffering a puncture. Initially mistaken for another BBC man, he shows some feigned sympathy towards the group protesting against the use of force outside a Norfolk airbase. Visiting Norfolk again a week later with an uninterested Susan, James walks alone with Ann, who kisses him and later has sex with him.
-This, however, is just a backdrop to his attraction towards an upper class, rather snooty TV journalist named Susan Barrington [[(Charlie Dore]],  to whom he is introduced through his close Oxford friend and another TV journalist, Jeremy Hancock [[(Tim Curry]]. Although he is persistent, he cannot get further than a late night kiss from her and so Jeremy suggests that he contact her mother, a prominent left-wing historian Ann Barrington [[(Rosemary Harris)]] living down in Norfolk, and married to a wealthy and womanising advertising executive Matthew Fox [[(Frank Finley]]. It transpires that she wrote an article on the Suez Crisis and, as his friends say, James can get into the pants of the daughter by befriending the mother.
+James returns to his work in London. Over a [[ploughman's lunch]] and beer with Matthew Fox, Fox consents to James making love to his wife, since the two have slept in separate beds for the last three years. James refuses to take calls from Ann when she attempts to contact him at the BBC. He finally has another Oxford friend, an up-and-coming young poet, call her to end the relationship, while he sits idly by reading advertisements in ''[[Newsquest|Exchange and Mart]]''.
-James soon finds himself spending more time with the mother than the daughter whom he is attempting to pursue. They have several long discussions and also take long walks on the Norfolk broads. The viewer would like to sympathise with his plight except for the fact of his unabated ambition, his neglect of his working-class mother who is dying, and his failure to show any sympathy towards a group of protestors protesting the use of force outside a Norfolk airbase when they help him out with fixing a puncture. On one of their walks Ann Barrington kisses him and later that night she enters his bedroom and they make love.
-Caught up in this hopeless love triangle, James returns to his work in London. He is contacted by Matthew Fox and, over a beer and ploughman's lunch in a pub, is told that he has the husband's consent to make love to his wife, given that they have slept in separate beds for the last three years. However, James refuses to take any calls from the mother when she attempts to contact him at the BBC. He finally gets another Oxford friend and up and coming young poet to make a call to her ending the relationship, while he sits idly by reading advertisements in ''Exchange and Mart''. James, Jeremy and Susan have all been given the task of covering the Conservative Party conference so they travel down to Brighton together in James' Jaguar. It is at the start of the conference that James first starts to get an inkling of something going on between the other two and directly asks Jeremy if he is up to something. Later, during the conference, he attempts to talk to Susan but she brushes him off, and he then sees them caressing each other, having obviously returned from their hotel room. The Conference finishes with Thatcher's closing address as she rouses popular support for the forthcoming Falkland's conflict and afterwards James confronts his friend, calling him a shit for having betrayed him. However, he in turn is told by Jeremy that he has known Susan for fifteen years and that they are 'old allies' (and there is always the feeling that James does not quite come up to Susan's standards - at one point he even tells her that his parents are dead).
+James, Jeremy and Susan travel to [[Brighton]] together in James' [[Jaguar Cars|Jaguar]] to cover the 1982 [[Conservative Party Conference]]. At the start of the conference, James begins to suspect that the other two are romantically involved, and asks Jeremy if he is up to something. Later, during the conference, he attempts to talk to Susan but she brushes him off; he then sees her and Jeremy caressing each other, having returned from a hotel room. The conference finishes with Thatcher's closing address as she rouses popular support following the Falklands War, and afterwards James confronts Jeremy in the [[Brighton Centre]] conference hall, rebuking him for having betrayed him; Jeremy tells him that he has known Susan for fifteen years and that they are "old allies".
-The film ends with James having a conversation with his publisher as they talk about the success of his first book  and the closing scene is of James attending his mother's funeral, standing grim-faced and aloof at his father's side.
+James has a conversation with his publisher about the success of his book. He then attends his mother's funeral, standing grim-faced and aloof at his father's side, as he impatiently checks his watch.
+== Cast ==
-As the blurb on the video cover states:
+*[[Jonathan Pryce]] as James Penfield
+*[[Tim Curry]] as Jeremy Hancock
+*[[Charlie Dore]] as Susan Barrington
+*[[Rosemary Harris]] as Ann Barrington
+*[[Frank Finlay]] as Matthew Fox
+*[[David de Keyser]] as Gold
+*[[Bill Paterson (actor)|Bill Paterson]] as Lecturer
+*[[Nat Jackley]] as Mr. Penfield
+*[[David Lyon (actor)|David Lyon]] as Newsreader
+*[[Orlando Wells]] as Tom Fox
+==Reception==
-'... McEwan's script is most successful, elucidating on the things that obviously fascinate this British author: politics and their temptiness, the nature of history and its effects on the everyday, both linked and focused in the souless society the Twentieth Century has burgeoned.'
+In ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Vincent Canby]] praised the film: "James Penfield, the journalist who glowers at the center of the fine new English film ''The Ploughman's Lunch'', is a fascinating variation on all of the [[Kitchen sink realism|angry, low-born young men]] who populated British novels and plays in the late 1950s and 60s. Although he denies it, he is angry. At one point he says: 'You do everything right and you feel nothing. Either way.' His problem is that he feels everything all too acutely, but it doesn't make him a better person, only more devious. James Penfield is Jimmy Porter of ''[[Look Back in Anger]]'' updated to the 1980s, specifically to London during the 1982 Falkland war and the Tory leadership of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. ''The Ploughman's Lunch'', the first theatrical film to be written by Ian McEwan and directed by Richard Eyre, is a witty, bitter tale of duplicity and opportunism in both private and public life...This is tricky stuff, but ''The Ploughman's Lunch'' blends fact with fiction with astonishing success."<ref name="Canby" />
+===Box office===
-== Main Characters ==
+[[Goldcrest Films]] invested £398,000 in the movie and received £271,000, a loss £127,000.<ref>{{Cite book |title=My indecision is final |url=https://archive.org/details/myindecisionisfi00eber |url-access=registration |first1=Jake |last1= Eberts |first2=Terry |last2=Illott |year=1990 |publisher=Faber and Faber|page=[https://archive.org/details/myindecisionisfi00eber/page/657 657] |isbn=9780571148882 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
+The film was seen by 1.7 million people on UK television.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}
-*James Penfield - Jonathan Pryce
-*Jeremy Hancock - Tim Curry
-*Susan Barrington - Charlie Dore
-*Ann Barrington - Rosemary Harris
-*Matthew Fox - Frank Finlay
-*Lecturer - Bill Patterson
-*Newsreader - David Lyon
-*Mr Penfield - Nat Jackley
+==References==
-== Film Production ==
+{{reflist}}
-* Director - Richard Eyre
-* Producer - Simon Relph, Ann Scott
-* Screenplay - Ian McEwan
-* Editor - David Martin
-* Camera - Clive Tickner
-* Music - Dominic Muldowney
 ==External links==
+* {{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jan/23/fiction.ianmcewan |first=Robert |last=McCrum |title=Review: The story of his life |work=The Observer |date=23 January 2005}}
-*{{imdb title|id=0086122|title=The Ploughman's Lunch}}
+* {{IMDb title|id=0086122|title=The Ploughman's Lunch}}
+* {{Screenonline title|539903}}
+{{Richard Eyre}}
 {{Ian McEwan}}
+{{Portal bar|Film}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ploughmans Lunch, The}}
+[[Category:1983 drama films]]
 [[Category:1983 films]]
-[[Category:Drama films]]
+[[Category:1983 independent films]]
-[[Category:Independent films]]
+[[Category:1980s British films]]
+[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
 [[Category:British drama films]]
-[[Category:English-language films]]
+[[Category:British independent films]]
-[[Category:Screenplays by Ian McEwan]]
+[[Category:Films about Margaret Thatcher]]
+[[Category:Falklands War films]]
+[[Category:Films about the mass media in the United Kingdom]]
-[[es:The Ploughman's Lunch]]
+[[Category:Films directed by Richard Eyre]]
+[[Category:Films set in Norfolk]]
+[[Category:Films with screenplays by Ian McEwan]]
+[[Category:Goldcrest Films films]]
+[[Category:Methuen Publishing books]]
+[[Category:Suez Crisis fiction]]
+[[Category:Films scored by Dominic Muldowney]]
+[[Category:English-language drama films]]
+[[Category:English-language independent films]]

v t e Works by Ian McEwan
Novels	The Cement Garden (1978) The Comfort of Strangers (1981) The Child in Time (1987) The Innocent (1990) Black Dogs (1992) Enduring Love (1997) Amsterdam (1998) Atonement (2001) Saturday (2005) On Chesil Beach (2007) Solar (2010) Sweet Tooth (2012) The Children Act (2014) Nutshell (2016) Machines Like Me (2019) The Cockroach (2019) Lessons (2022)
Story collections	First Love, Last Rites (1975) In Between the Sheets (1978)
Children's novels	Rose Blanche (1985) The Daydreamer (1994)
Television plays	Jack Flea's Birthday Celebration (1976) The Imitation Game (1980) Solid Geometry (2002)
Screenplays	The Ploughman's Lunch (1983) Soursweet (1988) The Good Son (1993) The Innocent (1993) On Chesil Beach (2017) The Children Act (2017)