The era of the British New Wave came of age with John Schlesinger’s comedy, one of the enduring films from the movement that crucially combines humour and literary pedigree with its ‘kitchen sink’ realism.
Tom Courtenay is Billy, an undertaker’s clerk with an overactive imagination who’s often lost in a world of Walter Mitty-esque fantasies. Julie Christie is the glamorous girlfriend who urges him to act on his dreams and leave dreary Yorkshire for a new life in London. Schlesinger’s affectionate portrait of an archetypal British character – the loveable loser unable to transcend his provincial life – is a key British film of the 1960s and was voted 76th in a BFI poll of the 100 best British films.
“One of the great movies of the 1960’s…The film’s wide perspective and deep focus have an ethical import as well: they bestow on narrow, constricted lives the dignity and beauty of art…Although saturated with the cultural peculiarities of its time and place, this film is too alive to be a mere period piece... Courtenay’s performance, all nerves, ears and desperate rapid-fire charm, makes you worry about what will become of this lost boy. Julie Christie, for her part, is a limpid icon of rebellious glamour. In spite of its bitter edge, Billy Liar is pure Ambrosia.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“Quick-fire satire…Funny and unexpectedly poignant.”
– Dave Calhoun, Time Out (London)
Screening as part of our John Schlesinger Centenary celebration.
