PETER'™S FRIENDS

UK, 1992, 101 minutes, Colour.
Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Alfonsia Emmanuelle, Imelda Staunton, Phyllida Law, Rita Rudner, Tony Slattery, Alex Lowe.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Peter’s Friends is really a 90s film about Kenneth Branagh and his friends.

The film opens with a fine collage of what happened between the 1980s and the 1990s in the UK and around the world, an excellent visual summary. The film also opens with Peter and his friends performing a song about the London Underground as they finish their university studies – with a photo taken at the end. At the end of the film, ten years later and a bit wiser, they reprise the song.

The film is about a New Year’s party hosted by Peter at his mansion. He invites his friends who haven’t seen each other for some time. Peter is played by Stephen Fry, a very personalised performance in terms of his comedy but also in the themes of sexual orientation and the awareness of HIV at the time. Kenneth Branagh portrays a writer-actor who has transferred to Los Angeles and married an American comedienne, played by Rita Rudner who wrote the script with her husband Martin Bregman (who was also a student at Cambridge with many of the cast). Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton are a couple, creator of advertising jingles, who have suffered the sadness of the death of one of their twin children. Imelda Staunton portrays the distraught mother, full of anxiety, wanting to phone home all the time to check on the safety of the other twin, alienating her husband. Hugh Laurie gives a very dignified performance as the husband struggling with the crisis. Alfonsia Emmanuelle is the goodtime girl with many relationships, taking up with Tony Slattery (also a student at Cambridge with the cast), a married man who is to leave his wife. Emma Thompson rounds out the group as the single woman, oversensitive at times, struggling to find a place in life – and with a crush on Peter which is not to be fulfilled. Phyllida Law (Emma Thompson’s actual mother – and she was married to Kenneth Branagh at the time) portrays the sympathetic and unsympathetic housekeeper.

The film focuses on a very particular group which audiences may not be able to immediately identify with. However, the film is so well acted and written, audiences will respond to many of the characters and their crises. In fact, as they go through many gaffes, difficult situations, there is a lead to some kind of resolution in the crises of most of the characters.

Peter’s Friends is very interesting to look at in terms of the subsequent careers of most of the cast: Hugh Laurie and his many films, his starring in House MD and his many awards; Kenneth Branagh, with this film as one of his early directing jobs (after Henry V and Dead Again, before a whole range of films including Frankenstein, Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost…); Emma Thompson soon to win an Oscar for her performance in Howard’s End and her screenwriting for Sense and Sensibility; Imelda Staunton and her many character performances culminating in Vera Drake, winning the acting award at the Venice Film Festival; and Stephen Fry with his performance in Wilde, his appearances in many films and on a range of television programs which illustrated his high intelligence and his ability with ideas and words.

1. The cast, the writers and their associates, the cast and their friendship in life, on screen? The film echoing their lives? The film seen in the light of their subsequent careers?

2. The 1980s, the initial collage and history of the UK and wider from the 1980s to the 1990s? An effective summary?

3. The 1990s, change, the group older, their experience, problems?

4. The prologue, the song-and-dance routine, Offenbach music and the song about the underground railway stations in London? High-spirited performance? The university, the end of their studies? The photo? The reprising of the song at the end of the film?

5. Peter’s house, the exteriors of the mansion, the interiors, the historical aspects of the house, rooms and style?

6. The musical score, the range of songs used throughout the film?

7. Stephen Fry as Peter, his style, manner, speaking? His house, thinking of selling? The discussions with Vera, the decision to hold a party? His being the host, genial, meals, the rooms – and Carol thinking his was hers? The phone calls and Mary’s anxiety? Maggie and her approach to him, his turning her away? Relationships? A gay man, HIV and his announcement? The response of the group, concern? Vera’s response?

8. Andrew and Carol, going to the United States, their arrival at the airport, Carol and her public, the fan who didn’t recognise her and mistook her name? Bringing her weights? Andrew and his cynical approach to life, his cynical attitude towards his wife and her television program? Carol as particularly American, loud? Brian carrying her cases and her making a joke of it? Taking the wrong room? Exercising, gorging at night in secret? Her show? Not understanding the British, upset with Andrew and his past relationship with Sarah? Interpreting the worst? Ultrasensitive? The issue of separation? The phone call, the offer of a film, returning? The effect on Andrew? As a writer, collaborating with Peter, but going to the US? His attitude towards American television? Drinking, giving it up? Trying to cope with Carol? The gaffes, the meal, Sarah and the past? Dealing with Mary and her anxiety? Maggie and her friendship? Cynical about Sarah and Brian? The truth about Carol and Sarah? Drinking again? Badmouthing people, the attack on Peter? His being very sorry after the announcement about HIV?

9. Maggie, her cats, eccentric, wanting relationships, sensitive, the giving of the gifts and being upset at people’s reactions? Her ability to coax Mary into being calm? Talking with Andrew, the approach to Peter, the rebuff? With Carol in the kitchen, the makeover, Sarah criticising it? With Paul, the sexual encounter? Her being anxious for everyone?

10. Sarah and Brian, the encounters, impulsive? Loud? Sarah and her background? Brian’s attitude? Carrying Carol’s cases, the gaffe about the dead twin? His jokes, his being out of place, the song and the coffee jingle? The possibility of divorce? The phone call, separating from his wife? Sarah and her being upset at not being consulted? Sarah and her relationships, Andrew telling her that she was a dreamer about romance and everything disappointed her? The next morning, Sarah in the garden, Brian’s suspicions as he walked? The phone call, his child and wife, Sarah hearing? The wife arriving to take him away? The aftermath and Sarah becoming more balanced?

11. Mary and Roger, goodbyes to their son, the story of the twin’s death, Mary upset, not wanting to go? The tension, her being highly strung, the inordinate number of phone calls, Roger and his exasperation? Roger as a decent man, the job, their creating the jingles? The impact of their singing The Way You Look Tonight and its effect on the group? Brian still wanting the jingle? Mary and the upset about the talk of the twin? Maggie and her ability to comfort Mary? Mary staying?

12. The frank talk between Mary and Roger, about the death, about blame, about nobody being able to foresee what would happen, the thoughts of separation? Their staying together the next day, making peace? In love with each other again?

13. Vera, her story, Paul, her disapproval? Her sardonic remarks to Carol? Her liking the group? Hearing Peter’s confession, her response? Enjoying the final song? Paul, his ambitions, the services? Relationship with Maggie?

14. Reunions, the telling of the truth, the handling of crises, some healing and hope?