42 Up (1998)

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

Director:

Michael Apted

Stars:

Bruce Balden, Jacqueline Bassett, Symon Basterfield

1 win & 9 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bruce Balden	...	Himself (as Bruce)
Jacqueline Bassett	...	Herself (as Jackie)
Symon Basterfield	...	Himself (as Symon)
Andrew Brackfield	...	Himself (as Andrew)
John Brisby	...	Himself (archive footage) (as John)
Suzanne Dewey	...	Herself (as Suzy)
Charles Furneaux	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Charles)
Nicholas Hitchon	...	Himself (as Nick)
Neil Hughes	...	Himself (as Neil)
Lynn Johnson	...	Herself (as Lynn)
Paul Kligerman	...	Himself (as Paul)
Susan Sullivan	...	Herself (as Sue)
Tony Walker	...	Himself (as Tony)

Storyline

In 1964, a film crew interviewed seven-year-old English kids: five or six from privilege, a Yorkshire farm lad, East-End girls, and boys from a children's home. Every seven years, Michael Apted re-interviews those willing (two declined this time). At 42, careers are stuck or flourishing; marriages are strong, shaky, or over (and Bruce recently married for the first time). They're dealing with parents' dying, and children coming-of-age. One is a single mom with young sons. One is remarried, but how are the five children from his first marriage? Lyn and Jackie face health problems with down-to-earth lucidity. Neil, on the margin at 28 and 35, has a glorious story of friendship at 42.

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Plot Keywords:

twin towers | london england | lifespan | lifespan development | politics | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

21 July 1998 (UK)

Also Known As:

42: Forty Two Up

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,576, 19 November 1999

Gross USA:

$259,068, 23 April 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Granada Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Symon Basterfield returns to the series having sat the last instalment out. (His first wife wasn't keen on the project; his new wife had no such objections.)

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Quotes

Neil Hughes: Well, I'm not married. I value all experience. I feel that part of my life hasn't happened. I'm not homosexual therefore I do hanker after a stable relationship with a woman. I've never been able to achieve that and I think I'm somehow deficient in... my ability to react to the needs of others through not having had that relationship.

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Connections

Features 35 Up (1991)

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Soundtracks

What Would I Do
Written by Stanley Alexander
Performed by The Monotones

User Reviews

The 7-up phenomenon gets better each time...

This film and its predecessors are the most fascinating documentaries released cinematically, not because of their breathtaking cinematography, whiz-bang special effects or even revelation of secret or unknown information. What it does offer is a look straight into the personal lives of a group of people with nothing much in common except this series of extraordinary films which every 7 years throw their experiences open to the world. For the most part they are ordinary lives but they are engrossing as only reality can be. There is no gloss applied, no smoothing over of rough edges. Apted has become a friend to many of his 'subjects' and the warmth of their relationship with him comes into the film. In this program, even the effect of the film series on the people in it is examined, so in some ways it is a film about itself. Like a classic serial cliffhanger, at the end one is impatient to see the next instalment, but it will be seven years in production...