Robinson in Space (1997)

Robinson is commissioned to investigate the unspecified "problem of England." The narrator describes his seven excursions, with the unseen Robinson, around the country. They mainly ... See full summary »

Director:

Patrick Keiller

Writer:

Patrick Keiller

Star:

Paul Scofield

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Paul Scofield	...	Narrator (voice)

Storyline

Robinson is commissioned to investigate the unspecified "problem of England." The narrator describes his seven excursions, with the unseen Robinson, around the country. They mainly concentrate on ports, power stations, prisons, and manufacturing plants, but they also bring in various literary connections, as well as a few conventional landscapes.

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Plot Keywords:

reading | reference to rimbaud | reference to sherlock holmes | sherlock holmes reference | sherlock holmes quotation | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

Quoted texts include: Chapter 23 of 'The Revolution of Everyday Life' by Raoul Vaneigem in 'Leaving the 20th Century'; translated and edited by Christopher Gray; published by Free Fall Publications. 'The Production of Space' by Henri Lefebvre; translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith; published by Blackwell. 'The Adventure of the Copper Beeches' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 'Seaports' in Paris Spleen by Charles Baudelaire; translated by Louise Varese; published by New Directions. 'Capitalism, Culture and Decline in Britain 1750-1990' by W.D. Rubinstein; published by Routledge. 'Space, Place and Gender' by Doreen Massey; published by Polity Press. 'Wartime, "genius" honoured at last' by David Ward; in The Guardian on 13 December 1994 'Laughter' by Henri Bergson as quoted in 'The Postcards from Utopia' by Stanislaw Czekalski in Umeni 1-2 XLIII/1995 published by UDU AVC Prague 'The Life of the Automobile' by Ilya Ehrenburg; translated by Joachim Neugroschel; published by Pluto Press; Translation Urizen Books

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Connections

Follows London (1994)

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Soundtracks

A Matter of Life and Death
Prelude
Composed by Allan Gray
Published by Peter Maurice Music Co. Ltd

User Reviews

A delightfully weird view of the English provinces

This is a lovely film, narrated perfectly by Paul Scofield. Robinson and the narrator take seven tours of the English provinces, emulating Defoe's tours two centuries ago. You never see the travellers but they discover an awful lot about England that you probably never wanted to know - but are never boring. The superbly shot scenes of a changing industrial landscape are largely still - frozen in the 1990s and already remarkably dated, so that the film is already nostalgic, though only seven years old at the time of viewing. The commentary gives a detached perspective on England's industrial decline, as well as the occasional - and odd - glimpse into Robinson's private life and the mysterious company employing them to make these journeys on what might be a weird form of industrial espionage. The overall effect is to provide a strikingly different perspective on landscape, history and those who travel through them - a great success and all too short at 80 minutes.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 January 1997 (UK)

Also Known As:

Robinson dans l'espace

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,054

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Koninck Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color