Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

Director:

Michael Radford

Writers:

George Orwell (novel), Michael Radford

Stars:

John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Hurt	...	Winston Smith
Richard Burton	...	O'Brien
Suzanna Hamilton	...	Julia
Cyril Cusack	...	Charrington
Gregor Fisher	...	Parsons
James Walker	...	Syme
Andrew Wilde	...	Tillotson
David Trevena	...	Tillotson's Friend
David Cann	...	Martin
Anthony Benson	...	Jones
Peter Frye	...	Rutherford
Roger Lloyd Pack	...	Waiter
Rupert Baderman	...	Winston Smith as a Boy
Corinna Seddon	...	Winston's Mother
Martha Parsey	...	Winston's Sister

Storyline

After The Atomic War the world is divided into three states. London is a city in Oceania, ruled by a party who has total control over all its citizens. Winston Smith is one of the bureaucrats, rewriting history in one of the departments. One day he commits the crime of falling in love with Julia. They try to escape Big Brother's listening and viewing devices, but, of course, nobody can really escape...

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Plot Keywords:

vagina | totalitarianism | invented language | big brother | future | 

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Taglines:

George Orwell's Terrifying Vision Comes To The Screen.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 March 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

1984

Filming Locations:

Alexandra Palace Way, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$8,400,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production, Virgin Benelux, Virgin Schallplatten

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Michael Radford and cinematographer Roger Deakins originally wanted to shoot the film in black and white, but the financial backers of the production, Virgin Films, opposed this idea. Instead Deakins used a film processing technique called bleach bypass to create the distinctive washed-out look of the film's color visuals. The film is a very rare example of the technique being done on every release print, rather than the inter-negative or inter-positive; as the silver is retained in the print and the lab is unable to reclaim the silver, so the cost is higher, but the retained silver gives a "depth" to the projected image. The 2003 DVD release (the only release to restore Dominic Muldowney's full musical score) was mastered from the original negatives (not a release print), and thus inadvertently restored the film's original color saturation.

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Goofs

When Winston and Julia are together in the room upstairs for the second time, Julia asks Winston what time the clock on the wall says. He responds that it is 21 hours, or 9pm. When Julia leaves and Winston picks up the glass ball off the table, the clock behind it shows 2:30.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Big Brother: [voice-over] This is our land. A land of peace and of plenty. A land of harmony and hope. This is our land. Oceania. These are our people. The workers, the strivers, the builders. These are our people. The builders of our world, struggling, fighting, bleeding, dying. On the streets of our cities and on the far-flung battlefields. Fighting against the mutilation of our hopes and dreams. Who are they?

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Crazy Credits

With love and admiration RICHARD BURTON 1925-1984

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Connections

Referenced in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Chain of Command: Part 2 (1992)

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Soundtracks

Julia
Written & Performed by The Eurythmics
(VHS version only)

User Reviews

Comments on Comments

I really have only one thing to comment on. Most of the other reviewers have stated just about everything about this wonderfully gritty, dark, foreboding movie that still remains an eerie parallel to our lives today, especially in the last 2 years...

But I'm confused by the number of people who have commented that claim to be put off by "the gratuitous nudity" by the two characters of Winston and Julia. Given the fact that everything in this society--waking up, food, habits, desires, work, workers, even the underwear and overalls--is so uniform, has it occurred to viewers that being nude was the only link to identity that these characters had? Everything in their world depends, thrives on sameness. Without clothes, everyone is unique. The two lovers were already in dire conditions by committing the sin of feeling for another human being, let alone carnally but in the heart. And they had to deceive and pretend and go through the motions of the dutiful cogs in the Big Brother wheel. But their only shared peace and comfort was their sacred time alone, and in love. They had finally found their own identities through loving each other. Their nudity was merely symbolic of that. In that sense, their union and expressions of that union only becomes more fragile, beautiful and honest, in such a heartless, cold, indifferent world.

May that be truly said of us, and all of us...

OK, that out of the way...one of the most gritty, realistic, honest translations ever to grace the screen. Wouldn't have changed a thing. Highly, highly recommended, along with the original 1955 version of "Animal Farm". Perfect double-feature for a somber, thoughtful evening's viewing.