Frances Barber Movies
An English leading actress onscreen from 1985, Barber debuted in A Zed and Two Noughts. ~ All Movie Guide- 1986
- R
Nicolas Roeg directed this dreamy erotic adventure film based on two Australian non-fiction best-sellers -- Lucy Irvine's Castaway and Gerald Kingsland's The Islander. Both best-sellers concern former clerk and waitress Lucy Irvine's response to an advertisement placed by writer Gerald Kingsland in a magazine seeking "a wife for a year on a tropical island." Irvine responded to the ad and, after learning that she would have to pay for the trip to the island of Tuin (between New Guinea and Australia), the not-very-happy couple took off to Tuin for a thirteen-month stay, after which Irvine returned to England alone. The film stars Oliver Reed as Gerald Kingsland and Amanda Donohue as Lucy Irvine. On the island, Gerald and Lucy romp around au natural and try not to get in each other's way. But then Gerald suffers a foot infection and Lucy, in spite of having seafood for every meal, begins to drastically lose weight. Gerald also gets crabby because Lucy withholds sexual pleasure from her new husband. After a year of bliss, Lucy decides to return to the British rat race, while Gerald tries to stick it out in his new island cultural environment. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Reed, Amanda Donohoe, (more)
- 1985
Pete Townsend of The Who is star of this hybrid music video. Why call it a hybrid? Well, at times it seems to want to be a music video pure and simple, with several top Townsend tunes given emphasis. At other times, it veers towards straight drama, illustrating an incident that reportedly happened to its star in real life. Townsend is seen attempting to patch up the marriage of two old and close friends (Andrew Wilde, Frances Barber). At 60 minutes, White City is just long enough to do justice to both the musical and dramatic elements. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This twisted black comedy is obsessed in turn with swans, twins, and decay. Alba Bewick (Andréa Ferréol) is involved in a swan-related car accident near the zoo. The accident kills two other women, the wives of two twin zoologists, Oliver and Oswald Deuce (Brian and Eric Deacon). Alba is lucky enough to escape with one leg. Eventually her doctor also removes the other "because it was dangerous for the spine." Meanwhile, the Deuce brothers, as a result of losing their wives, have become fascinated with the decay of corpses, and they start making rather gruesome time-lapse films to examine the process more thoroughly. Both brothers become involved with Alba. Needless to say, this film may not appeal to everybody. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andréa Ferréol, Brian Deacon, (more)
- 1983
Acceptable Levels begins when a London TV crew interviews the grieving family of a Belfast youth, accidentally killed by a British soldier. Chief reporter Kay Adshead wants to explore the political ramifications of the incident, but is prevented from doing so by her timorous producer Andy Rashleigh. Even though most of her filmed report is destroyed at Rashleigh's insistence, Adshead isn't about to let anyone off the hook. This guilt-trip element of Acceptable Levels plays well enough, but the scenes which contrast the TV crew's posh living conditions with the harshness of the Irish family's existence work better within the framework of the film. Five writers labored upon the screenplay of Acceptable Levels, including the film's director, John Davies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Rashleigh
Stan (Eric Richard), Gordon (Timothy Spall), and Harold (Tim Barker) are postmen who work together as they sort the mail each morning before they go on their rounds. They chat a little about their home lives, and Harold tells terrible riddles and recites song lyrics in a monotone. Harold dotes on his wife, June (Su Elliot), but she's clearly an unhappy woman, and is constantly telling him to leave her alone. Gordon's house is on Stan's route, so Gordon tells his wife, Hazel (Kay Stonham), to invite Stan in for tea when he comes around. She does, but the vivacious woman seems to have more than tea on her mind as she gives Stan a tour of the house, with an emphasis on the bedroom. She suggests that Stan come by for Sunday dinner some time. An overbearingly cheerful social worker, Melody (Frances Barber of Sammy and Rosie Get Laid), shows up at Stan's door and harangues him into spending more time with his estranged teenage daughter, Tina (Lorraine Brunning). Tina's been in foster care for years, ever since Stan's wife ran off. Stan is a busy man, chatting up his co-workers' wives and picking up women at the launderette, but eventually he makes time for a visit. Encouraged by this progress, Melody coerces Stan into bringing Tina home for a weekend. He decides to bring her over to dinner at Gordon and Hazel's, and it soon devolves into a horrific evening, made all the more awkward by an unexpected visit from June. Home Sweet Home, "devised" and directed by Mike Leigh, was originally shown as part of the BBC's Play for Today series. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Michael Palin wrote and stars in this comedy as The Reverend Charles Fortescue, an unassuming missionary called back to England after spending ten years in Africa teaching children in a native village. Upon arriving in London, he finds that his new assignment is to take charge of a slum mission for prostitutes. He obtains money for the running of the mission from a wealthy woman, Lady Ames (Maggie Smith), whom he meets on the boat sailing to England from Africa. Lady Ames guarantees Fortescue the money on the condition that he take it upon himself to add a little spice to her dormant sex life. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Palin, Maggie Smith, (more)
