"The Line of Beauty" (2006)TV mini-series

Director:

Saul Dibb

Writers:

Alan Hollinghurst (novel)
Andrew Davies (adaptation)

Release Date:

17 May 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The story of two gay lovers in 1980s London.

Plot Keywords:

Cocaine | Sex | 1980s | Gay | Self Mutilation

Cast

Dan Stevens	...	Nick Guest
Oliver Coleman	...	Toby Fedden
Carmen du Sautoy	...	Elena
Kenneth Cranham	...	Sir Maurice Tipper
Tim McInnerny	...	Gerald Fedden
Barbara Flynn	...	Sally Tipper
Alice Krige	...	Rachel Fedden
Hayley Atwell	...	Catherine 'Cat' Fedden
Don Gilet	...	Leo Charles
Oscar James	...	Brentford
John Quayle	...	Geoffrey Titchfield
John Standing	...	Lord Kessler
Justin Salinger	...	Russell
Bruno Lastra	...	Tristao
Kika Markham	...	Mrs. Thatcher

Runtime:

USA:179 min (San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

In the pub scene for Nick and Leo's first meeting, "time" is called at the end of the evening by the real landlord of that pub, the Windsor Castle pub.

Quotes:

Sally Tipper: It's sort of sex-mad, the world we live in.
Antoine "Wani" Ouradi: [smiling] I know.

80's hate fest

This British pot-boiler has one thing going for it: the young men are uniformly good looking. The older men are opinionated, right-wing Thatcherites whose behavior brings back all the acrimony of the Reagan/Thatcher years. Young or old, however, morals in this three-part mini-series are universally suspect and no one comes off particularly well.

Nick is a handsome young gay man fresh out of Oxford. It is not pivotal to the story, but he has an extraordinarily beautiful head of hair which makes watching this drivel much easier. Nick comes to London with a friend, whose father Gerald is a rich conservative politician, and babysits his sister Cat while the family frolics in the south of France. They neglect to inform him that, when upset, Cat cuts herself with an assortment of knives and other kitchen implements. Nick mistakes their self-serving 'gratitude' for affection and moves in, finding out too late just how much they despise and patronize him. Inexplicably, Nick lives in this house for four years but, as the plot depends on this point, it's best not to question it.

While Nick is most pleasing to look at, he is unbearably obsequious. His coy subjection to rich bigots soon had me climbing the walls. Deeply closeted except to Cat (she guesses his big secret on sight), he does like a little anonymous sex just so we know he is actually gay. Though it hardly seems possible, Nick takes a lover who is even more closeted than he.

Supercilious Tories scorn and insult the two blacks in the film, so imagine the venom which spews forth when Nick's sexual orientation is reported in a tabloid. Gerald, in true Tory fashion, has become involved in several personal and financial scandals, so the revelations about Nick add to his embarrassment. This gives Gerald one final opportunity to roundly castigate the hapless boy.

Except for one brief moment of indignation, Nick takes the abuse heaped upon him in silence and tacit agreement. Denial, self-loathing, naiveté, or ignorance? You decide, if you can manage to sit through this whole thing without throwing something at the set.