The Arbor (2010)

Portrayal of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar.

Director:

Clio Barnard

Stars:

Manjinder Virk, Christine Bottomley, Natalie Gavin

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 8 wins & 25 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Manjinder Virk	...	Lorraine Dunbar
Christine Bottomley	...	Lisa Thompson
Natalie Gavin	...	The Girl
Parvani Lingiah	...	Young Lorraine
Danny Webb	...	Max Stafford-Clark / The Father
Kate Rutter	...	The Mother
Liam Price	...	Billy
Robert Haythorne	...	Fred
Josh Brown	...	Policeman
Gary Whitaker	...	Self
Jamie Timlin	...	Self
Jimi Mistry	...	Yousaf
Robert Emms	...	Young David
Kathryn Pogson	...	Pamela Dunbar
Jonathan Jaynes	...	David Dunbar

Storyline

Portrayal of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar.

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Plot Keywords:

title directed by female | playwright | f rated | foster parent | domestic violence | 

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Taglines:

A Documentary Reinvented

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The idea of using actors lip syncing taped interviews was actually first used 10 years previously in the play "State of Affairs", a follow-up of sorts to Andrea Dunbar's own work.

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Connections

Featured in Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (2018)

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Soundtracks

On My Radio
Written by Neol Davies (as Davies)
Performed by The Selecter
Published by Fairwood Music
Licensed Courtesy of ! Music
Licensed Courtesy of EMI Records Ltd.

User Reviews

An innovative documentary about a Bradford family

If you've seen Alan Clarke's wonderful 'Rita, Sue and Bob Too!' (UK 1986), you'll have some idea of what to expect from 'The Arbor'. "The Arbor" is a small part of the Buttershaw Estate in South Bradford where Clarke's film was set. Clarke's film was adapted from her own play by Andrea Dunbar, a 20 year-old single mother in 1982 when the play first appeared. She had written her first play also called 'The Arbour' when she was still at school and a third, 'Shirley', in 1986 before she died suddenly from a brain haemorrhage aged just 29.

Knowledge of 'Rita, Sue and Bob Too!' will only help a little, however. This film, 'The Arbour', is part inspired by but is not an adaptation of Dunbar's play. Instead it is a form of documentary about Dunbar and her personal legacy that turns out to be mainly about the equally difficult life of her first child, Lorraine.

The film is written and directed by Clio Barnard who has Bradford connections. She visited the Buttershaw estate in 2009 and interviewed members of the extended Dunbar family and some other residents. She then borrowed the idea of hiring actors to lip-synch the recorded interviews (in A State Affair, a play by Robin Soans about the Buttershaw estate, actors spoke the words of the people Dunbar knew). Scenes with the actors were shot on the estate and in a London studio. They were edited together with two other kinds of material – scenes from 'Rita, Sue . . .' and from arts and news programmes about Andrea Dunbar plus scenes from 'The Arbor' play, acted out on the 'green' on the estate.

So, what does it all mean? I'm honestly not sure. Technically it is very well put together. I found myself moved by several scenes. At other times I felt like I didn't want to watch. I think that my personal preference is for a social-realist drama, but I recognise that the approach here is very powerful. My only real problem was in the casting of George Costigan as one of the actors reading the words of one of the fathers of Andrea Dunbar's children. Costigan was 'Bob' in Rita, Sue . . . and I found this an intertextual step too far.

Clio Barnard has, I think, previously produced video installations and sometimes I felt that I was viewing an installation. I found the initial stages confusing as they moved backwards and forwards in time, but eventually the film developed a distinctive narrative line focusing on Lorraine and this made it more like a traditional documentary film.

The Arbor appears to be attracting audiences to the National Media Museum's cinemas. Bradford audiences will probably have a rather different take on the film than the London critics who celebrated its success in winning two prizes at the London Film Festival this week.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Arbor

Filming Locations:

Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,638, 1 May 2011

Gross USA:

$21,620

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$126,182

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artangel Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1