Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Shashi Kapoor | ... | Rafi Rahman | |
Frances Barber | ... | Rosie Hobbs | |
Claire Bloom | ... | Alice | |
Ayub Khan-Din | ... | Sammy | |
Roland Gift | ... | Danny / Victoria | |
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Wendy Gazelle | ... | Anna |
Suzette Llewellyn | ... | Vivia | |
Meera Syal | ... | Rani | |
Badi Uzzaman | ... | Ghost | |
Tessa Wojtczak | ... | Bridget | |
Emer Gillespie | ... | Eva | |
Lesley Manville | ... | Margy | |
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Mark Sproston | ... | Young Policeman |
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Cynthia Powell | ... | Woman in Kitchen |
Dennis Conlon | ... | Asian Shopkeeper |
Sammy and Rosie are an unconventional middle-class London married couple. They live in the midst of inner-city chaos, surround themselves with intellectual street people, and sleep with everybody - except each other! Things become interesting when Sammy's father, Raffi, who is a former Indian government minister, comes to London for a visit. Sammy, Rosie, and Raffi try to find meaning through their lives and loves. Written by Martin Lewison <milst1@cislabs.pitt.edu>
This biting social/sexual satire from the same team responsible for 'My Beautiful Laundrette' may be too comprehensive for its own good, ranging far and wide over Margaret Thatcher's England but never quite achieving the kaleidoscopic effect it strives for. Racial tension, sexual revolution, recreational drug abuse, and inner city violence (complete with police brutality) are all part of the interchangeable backdrop for its two unlikable title characters: a swinging London couple whose marriage is less open than they'd like to believe. The arrival of Sammy's father, a Pakistani politician with a secret, fascist background, is the hook on which writer Hanif Kureishi hangs his colorful but didactic screenplay (his characters too often trade clever observations and aphorisms instead of credible dialogue). The style of the film certainly shows plenty of kinetic energy, and repeat viewings help bring out some of the depth and compassion in the story and characters. But the self-consciously hip and trendy attitude doesn't sit well with such an unreal depiction of counter-culture idealism: cuddly ragamuffins in a fairy tale, open-air commune.