My Beautiful Laundrette

My Beautiful Laundrette

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Stephen Frears
Produced by Sarah Radclyffe
Written by Hanif Kureishi
Starring Gordon Warnecke
Daniel Day-Lewis
Saeed Jaffrey
Roshan Seth
Music by "Ludus Tonalis"; produced Stanley Myers and Hans Zimmer
Cinematography Oliver Stapleton
Edited by Mick Audsley
Production
company
Distributed by Orion Classics
Release dates
  • 7 September 1985 (1985-09-07) (TIFF)
  • 16 November 1985 (1985-11-16)
Running time
 97 minutes[1]
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Urdu
Budget £650,000 (estimated)[2]
Box office $2,451,545[3]

My Beautiful Laundrette is a 1985 British comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The film was also one of the first films released by Working Title Films.

The story is set in London during the contemporary Thatcher era, as reflected in the complex—and often comical—relationships between members of the Asian and White communities. The story focuses on Omar, a young Pakistani man living in London, and his reunion and eventual romance with his old friend, a street punk named Johnny. The two become the caretakers and business managers of a launderette originally owned by Omar's uncle Peter. The plot addresses several polemical issues of the time, including homosexuality and racism, depicted within the social and economic climate of Thatcherism.

Plot

Omar Ali is a young man living in Battersea in the Wandsworth area of South London, right by the railway station[4] during the mid-1980s. His father, Hussein (known to the rest of the family as Papa), once a famous left-wing British Pakistani journalist in Bombay, lives in London but hates Britain's society and its international politics. His dissatisfaction with the world and a family tragedy have led him to sink into alcoholism, so that Omar has to be his carer. By contrast, Omar's paternal uncle Nasser is a successful entrepreneur and an active member of the London Pakistani community. Papa asks Nasser to give Omar a job and, after working for a brief time as a car washer in one of his uncle's garages, he is assigned the task of managing a run-down laundrette and turning it into a profitable business.

At Nasser's, Omar meets a few other members of the Pakistani community: Tania, Nasser's daughter and possibly a future bride; and Salim, who trafficks drugs and hires him to deliver them from the airport. While driving Salim and his wife home that night, the three of them get attacked by a group of right-wing extremist street punks. Their apparent leader turns out to be Johnny, Omar's childhood friend. Omar tries to reestablish their past friendship, offering Johnny a job and the opportunity to adopt a better life by working to fix up the laundrette with him. Johnny decides to help with the laundrette and they resume a romantic relationship that (it is implied) had been interrupted after school. Running out of money, Omar and Johnny sell one of Salim's drug deliveries to make cash for the laundrette's substantial renovation.

On the opening day of the laundrette, Omar confronts Johnny on his fascist past. Johnny, feeling guilty, tells him that though he cannot make it up to him, he is with him now. Nasser visits the laundrette with his mistress, Rachel. As they dance together in the laundrette, Omar and Johnny make love in the back room, narrowly escaping discovery. At the inauguration, Tania confronts Rachel about having an affair with her father. Rachel accuses Nasser of having invited Tania on purpose to have her insulted, and storms off despite his protests. Later that night, a drunk Omar proposes to Tania, who accepts on the condition that he raise money to get away. Soon after, Salim reveals to Omar that he is on to them, and demands his money back. Omar's father stops by late in the night and appeals to Johnny to persuade Omar to go to college because he is unhappy with his son running a laundrette.

Offering Salim a chance to invest in his businesses as a much needed 'clean outlet' for his money, Omar decides to take over two laundrettes owned by a friend of Nasser. Salim drives Johnny and Omar to view one of the properties, and he expresses his dislike of the British non-working punks in Johnny's gang. He attempts to run them over and injures one of them. Meanwhile, Rachel falls ill with a skin rash apparently caused by a ritual curse from Nasser's wife, and decides it is best for all that she and Nasser part ways. The next day Tania drops by the laundrette and tells Johnny she is leaving, asking him to come along. He refuses, revealing the truth about himself and Omar and she departs wordlessly. After Salim arrives and enters the laundrette, the punks, who had been lying in wait, trash his car. When he runs out on noticing them, he is ambushed and viciously attacked. Johnny decides to interrupt and defend him, despite their mutual dislike, and the punks turn their attention to him instead. As he refuses to fight back, they beat him savagely until Omar returns and intervenes, protecting Johnny as the punks trash the laundrette and flee the scene.

Nasser visits Papa, and the two discuss their respective failures, agreeing between them that only Omar's future matters now. Nasser sees Tania at the train platform while she is running away, and he shouts to her but she disappears. Meanwhile, at the laundrette, Omar nurses Johnny, and the two bond. The film ends with a scene of them shirtless, playfully splashing each other with water from a sink, implying that they are continuing their relationship together.

Cast

Production

My Beautiful Laundrette was Frears' third feature film for the cinema. Originally shot for television, it was first released in cinemas and eventually became his first international success.

The film marked the first time Oliver Stapleton was in charge of cinematography in one of Frears' projects. He would later become one of the director's most consistent collaborators.

Reception and accolades

My Beautiful Laundrette received positive reviews, currently holding a 100% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[5]

My Beautiful Laundrette was nominated in 1987 for a single Academy Award – Best Original Screenplay, by Hanif Kureishi. It lost to Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters. Kureishi was also nominated for a 1986 BAFTA award. The screenplay received an award from the American National Society of Film Critics.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack, which is credited to "Ludus Tonalis" (a name associated with a work by the composer Paul Hindemith), was produced by Stanley Myers and Hans Zimmer. Non-original music included the waltz Les Patineurs, by French composer Emile Waldteufel, and excerpts from Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 18 September 1985. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  2. ↑ "My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) – Box office / business". Internet Movie Database. Amazon.com. 1 January 2005. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  3. ↑ My Beautiful Laundrette at Box Office Mojo
  4. ↑ "My Beautiful Laundrette film locations". The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations. Titan Books (movie-locations.com). 6 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  5. ↑ My Beautiful Laundrette at Rotten Tomatoes

Further reading

External links

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