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Harold guppy intimate relations12/4/2023 ![]() ![]() He returns to his hometown to strike up a relationship with his brother Morris (Les Dennis), who doesn’t recognize him when they first meet. He spent his childhood in reform schools in Australia and spent some time in the Merchant Marines. He has some psychological maladies due to an imbalance in his system and was told by a Navy shrink if he ate huge quantities of sugar it would calm him. Harold Guppy (Rupert Graves) is a handsome but disturbed lad, whom his mother gave up on when he was a lad. It’s a well-made but grimly unmoving film, that dwells on an unpleasant subject, that culminates in a gruesome double homicide. The first-time filmmaker, Philip Goodhew, takes us behind the nice lace curtains of a respectable British household and brings us a story of repression, jealousy, and obsession. It takes place in 1954, in a small English coastal town. ![]() “There was just a growing emptiness that seemed to hang over its denouement…”Ī disturbing drama, inspired by a true story, that rails against the hypocritical sexual attitudes of the times. Pugh), Annie Keller (Jean) Runtime: 105 Fox Searchlight/Hand Made Films 1996-UK/Canada) Beasley insists that Harold call her "Mum," a word he later has tattooed upon his arm) only adds to the bitter humor.(director/writer: Philip Goodhew cinematographers: Andres Garreton editor: Pia Di Ciaula cast: Julie Walters (Marjorie Beasely), Rupert Graves (Harold), Matthew Walker (Stanley), Les Dennis (Maurice Guppy), Elizabeth McKechnie (Iris), Laura Sadler (Joyce), Holly Aird (Deirdre), Michael Bertenshaw(Mr. Still, Intimate Relations is a well-made film that aptly captures the flavor of post WW II England and contains many memorable lines.That the three try so hard to keep up the appearances of a normal household (Mrs. That the trio's characters are so broadly drawn, even bordering on cariactures, lessens the impact and the actual horror of the case. Though it is not difficult to guess that none of the three protagonists will come to a good end, the graphic nature of the story's climax is jarring and out of place in the otherwise low-key and rather dry comedy. Thus begins an inescapable downward spiral for the weak-willed Harold that culminates in a desperate and horrific act of violence. Joyce is very much awake and spends the night scheming to get Harold to come to her. Beasley and Harold quietly resume their cavorting. The row awakens Joyce who pops into Harold's room and refuses to leave until the would-be lovers allow her into the bed. That night she creeps to Harold's bedroom and pleads with him until he weakens and accepts her advances and they begin to make wild love. Things seem normal enough until a fateful game of spin-the-bottle during Joyce's 14th birthday party reveals an entirely different side to Mrs. ![]() hasn't had relations with him in years and forces him to sleep in his own room) WW I survivor who despite his missing leg, still supports his family. Harold soon meets the rest of the family, the fresh-faced, bright, but rather macabre Joyce (Laura Sadler in her feature-film debut), and Mr. Beasley seems the epitome of 1950s motherhood and good housekeeping. With her rhinestoned glasses, boxy dresses, short bouffant, and prim take-charge manner, Mrs. Unable to stay with his brother, Harold finds lodging in the home of friendly, late-middle-aged Mrs. It doesn't help that the callow Harold reveals a troubled, though somewhat cloaked past. The reunion is tepid, for Maurice's wife Iris (Elizabeth McKechnie) is suspicious of Harold and unwilling to welcome him into her home. The tale begins as Harold Guppy (Rupert Graves) leaves a ship and ambles toward the home of his long-lost brother Maurice Guppy (Les Dennis). In retelling this true story, first-time filmmaker Philip Goodhew offers a blackly comic and ironic look behind the proper lace curtains of a seemingly normal British household and reveals a seething pit of repressed lust, jealousy and deadly obsession. In 1954, all of England was rocked by a shocking crime that took place in a quiet coastal town and involved a socially upstanding landlady, her smart, newly blossomed teenage daughter, and a handsome but troubled Australian in search of family he had never known. ![]()
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