Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1997)

Director:

Robert Bierman

Writers:

George Orwell (novel)
Alan Plater (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Gordon Comstock is a copywriter at an ad agency, and his girlfriend Rosemary is a designer. Gordon believes he is a genius...

Plot Keywords:

Copywriter | Poet | Poverty | Class Differences | Drunk And Disorderly

Cast

Richard E. Grant	...	Gordon Comstock
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Rosemary
Julian Wadham	...	Ravelston
Jim Carter	...	Erskine
Harriet Walter	...	Julia Comstock
Lesley Vickerage	...	Hermione
Barbara Leigh-Hunt	...	Mrs. Wisbeach (as Barbara Leigh Hunt)
Liz Smith	...	Mrs. Meakin
John Clegg	...	McKechnie
Bill Wallis	...	Mr. Cheeseman
Lill Roughley	...	Mrs. Trilling
Dorothea Alexander	...	Old Woman
Peter Stockbridge	...	Old Man
Grant Parsons	...	Beautiful Young Man
Malcolm Sinclair	...	Paul Doring

Also Known As:

A Merry War (New Zealand: English title) (USA)
Comstock and Rosemary

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sex-related material.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | UK:PG (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Goofs:

Continuity: There is a suitcase beside Gordon as he sits on the park bench. When he leaves the park with Rosemary, Gordon does not carry the suitcase with him although it is no longer beside the bench.

Quotes:

Gordon Comstock: When you're lying in the gutter, you've got nowhere to fall.

Soundtrack:

Tiger in the Night

See the film first, then read the book!

I went to see the film as I saw parts of it being made. I wanted to see how Woburn Walk could be turned into a road in Hampstead. I liked the film. I wondered why the critics had such a downer on it. Then I read the book and could understand why.

Richard E. Grant was not vicious enough as Comstock and somehow the poverty which Orwell depicted in his book has been cleaned up to the point that you just can't see why Comstock was having so much of a problem. Comstock's arrest has been cleaned up too and the ending was all wrong.

If the film had been released under another name then it would probably have got a smoother ride and only been said to be a pastiche of Orwell's work. If you haven't read the book or seen the film, see the film first.