Jim Broadbent Movies
One of England's most versatile character actors, Jim Broadbent has been giving reliably excellent performances on the stage and screen for years. Particularly known for his numerous collaborations with director Mike Leigh, Broadbent was shown to superlative effect in Leigh's Topsy-Turvy, winning the Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for his portrayal of British lyricist and playwright W.S. Gilbert.Born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1949, Broadbent trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Following his 1972 graduation, he began his professional career on the stage, performing with the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and as part of the National Theatre of Brent, a two-man troupe he co-founded that performed reduced histories. In addition to his theatrical work, Broadbent did steady work on television, acting for such directors as Mike Newell and Stephen Frears.
Broadbent made his film debut in 1978 with a small part in Jerzy Skolimowski's The Shout. He went on to work with such directors as Stephen Frears (The Hit, 1984) and Terry Gilliam (Time Bandits [1981], Brazil [1985]), but it was through his collaboration with Leigh that Broadbent first became known to an international film audience. In 1991, he starred in Leigh's Life Is Sweet, a domestic comedy that cast him as a good-natured cook who dreams of running his own business.
Broadbent gained further visibility the following year with substantial roles in Neil Jordan's The Crying Game and Newell's Enchanted April, and he could subsequently be seen in such diverse fare as Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Widows' Peak (1994), Richard Loncraine's highly acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III (1996), and Little Voice (1998), the last of which cast him as a seedy nightclub owner. Appearing primarily as a character actor in these films, Broadbent took center stage for Leigh's Topsy-Turvy (1999), imbuing the mercurial W.S. Gilbert with emotional complexity and comic poignancy. Roles in Bridget Jones's Diary, Moulin Rogue, and Iris made 2001 quite a marquee year for Broadbent; the actor earned both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his affecting turn in Iris. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
The third film from pop-music-obsessed director Baz Luhrmann tweaks the conventions of the musical genre by mixing a period romance with anachronistic dialogue and songs in the style of his previous Romeo+Juliet (1996). Ewan McGregor stars as Christian, who leaves behind his bourgeois father during the French belle époque of the late 1890s to seek his fortunes in the bohemian underworld of Montmartre, Paris. Christian meets the absinthe- and alcohol-addicted artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who introduces him to a world of sex, drugs, music, theater, and the scandalous dance known as the cancan, all at the Moulin Rouge, a decadent dance hall, brothel, and theater that's the brainchild of Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent). Christian also meets and falls into a tragically doomed romance with the courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), who becomes the star of the play he's writing, which parallels the couple's romance and utilizes rock music from a century later, including songs by Nirvana, Madonna, the Beatles, and Queen, among others. Loosely based on the opera Orpheus in the Underworld, Moulin Rouge was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, (more)
Based on Helen Fielding's hugely popular novel, this romantic comedy follows Bridget (Renee Zellweger), a post-feminist, thirty-something British woman who has a penchant for alcoholic binges, smoking, and an inability to control her weight. While trying to keep these things in check and also deal with her job in publishing, she visits her parents for a Christmas party. They try to set her up with Mark (Colin Firth), the visiting son of one of their neighbors. Snubbed by Mark, she instead falls for her boss Daniel (Hugh Grant), a dashing lothario who begins to send her suggestive e-mails that soon lead to a dinner date proposition. Daniel reveals that he and Mark attended college together, during which time Mark had an affair with his fiancée. When Bridget finds Daniel cavorting with an American colleague, she decides to change her life with a new job as a TV presenter. At a dinner party, she bumps into Mark again, who expresses his affection for her; when Daniel claims he wants Bridget back, the two fight over who deserves her affections the most. Popular British performers Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, and Shirley Henderson appear in the supporting cast. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, (more)
Based on a pair of memoirs by her husband John Bayley, this biographical portrait of writer Iris Murdoch stars both Judi Dench and Kate Winslet as the philosophical author at different stages of her life. When the young Iris (Winslet) meets fellow student Bayley (Hugh Bonneville) at Oxford, he's a naïve virgin easily flummoxed by her libertine spirit, arch personality, and obvious artistic talent. Decades later, little has changed as the couple (now played by Dench and Jim Broadbent) keeps house, with John doting on his more famous wife. When Iris begins experiencing forgetfulness and dementia, however, the ever-doltish but devoted John struggles with hopelessness and frustration to become her caretaker, as his wife's mind deteriorates from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease. Iris earned a slew of Supporting Actor awards for Broadbent, including recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and National Board of Review. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, (more)
Noted for intimate character studies created in collaboration with his actors, director Mike Leigh makes a dramatic change of pace with this biography of comic opera composers W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) is an easily angered but otherwise emotionally remote lyricist who works in collaboration with composer Sullivan (Alan Corduner), a genial and fun-loving sort who feels unsatisfied writing light operettas and longs to work with more serious material. While Sullivan is having a creative crisis, Gilbert is facing a failing marriage to Lucy (Lesley Manville), who loves her husband even if he can't return her affections, and must deal with his ailing father (Charles Simon). When they suffer their first failure, both men are depressed, and Sullivan announces that he's giving up operetta for good. However, a visit to an exhibit of Japanese art sparks an idea in Gilbert, and soon he and Sullivan are hard at work on what will become one of their greatest successes, The Mikado. Much of the film is devoted to the staging of this classic, with Shirley Henderson, Dorothy Atkinson, Martin Savage, Timothy Spall, and Kevin McKidd as members of the operetta's cast. Jim Broadbent won Best Actor at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Broadbent, Alan Corduner, (more)
Jeremiah Chechick directed this $60 million adaptation of the whimsical 1961 British TV spy series, imported to the United States five years later for ABC airing (beginning 3/28/66), followed by The New Avengers (CBS, 1978-79). In the feature-length version, secret agent John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) and Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) face a meteorological menace as they track sinister super-villain Sir August de Wynter (Sean Connery), threatening to blitz Britain with blizzards and other extreme weather. Vocal cameo by Patrick Macnee (the original TV Steed). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, (more)
Based on Jim Cartright's play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, this screen adaptation directed by Mark Herman is an underdog film about an underdog girl named Little Voice (or LV for short). LV (Jane Horrocks from Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet who does all her own singing) is a shy, mousy woman living with her mom Mari (Secrets and Lies' Brenda Blethyn). Little Voice doesn't leave her house. Instead she sings along to her record collection of Shirley Bassey, Judy Garland, and Marilyn Monroe. Her mother Mari, however, is an outspoken woman who is convinced her sex appeal (which is little) will land her a man, especially when she's drunk. One night while bar-hopping, Mari meets the suave yet sleazy talent agent Ray Say (Michael Caine), whom she takes home for a nightcap. There Ray hears the beautiful Little Voice singing a perfect rendition of Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz. He's stunned by its beauty and thinks he can make her a star. From there the story heads in complicated, romantic, and sweet-hearted directions that should not be given away. Also starring in this small independent film is Ewan McGregor. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brenda Blethyn, Jane Horrocks, (more)
Peter Hewitt (Tom and Huck) directed this $30-million family film, an adaptation of Mary Norton's classic children's novels about a miniature family of wee folk, four inches high, living beneath the floorboards of an English cottage. The Borrowers family, so labeled because they "borrow" from the house's kitchen, consist of Pod Clock (Jim Broadbent), mother Homily (Celia Imre), and children Arrietty (13-year-old Flora Newbigin) and Peagreen (Tom Felton). Their adventure begins when they're almost caught in the kitchen by the Lenders, the tenants of the house, so they run for cover. When lawyer-Realtor Ocious P. Potter (John Goodman) discovers the owner of the house has died, he makes plans to evict the Lenders and demolish the building -- a situation where one would want to "neither a Borrower nor a Lender be." Fortunately, young Pete Lender (Bradley Pierce) has become friends with Arrietty -- an alliance leading toward a method of thwarting Potter. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Goodman, Jim Broadbent, (more)
Julia Ormond stars as Copenhagen resident Smilla Jasperson, a reclusive, half-Inuit scientist who befriends a neglected Inuit boy who lives in her building. Arriving home from work one day, Smilla is mortified to learn that the boy has died in a fall from the building's roof. Suspicious because she knows that her young friend was afraid of heights, Smilla probes into the "accident." Her only ally is an enigmatic man known as the Mechanic (Gabriel Byrne), who also lives in the building and seems sympathetic. Smilla discovers that the boy's family is connected to a mining company conducting top-secret research in her ancestral home of Greenland. Then she spies the Mechanic and the company's president (Richard Harris) dining together. Is she a paranoid conspiracy theorist or a sleuth uncovering a bizarre murder mystery? When a retired secretary (Vanessa Redgrave) helps her make a critical discovery, Smilla sets off for Greenland, where the otherworldly, prehistoric answer to her questions awaits. Danish director Bille August's previous film Pelle the Conqueror (1987) also concerned the bond between an adult Denmark émigré and a child. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julia Ormond, Gabriel Byrne, (more)
In this adaptation of the novel by Joseph Conrad, Mr. Verloc (Bob Hoskins) runs a shabby corner shop in London that serves as a front for his more profitable sideline, selling pornography. However, selling sex photos is not Verloc's main order of business; he is a member of an anarchist organization, and he holds meetings in his apartment where he and his fellows plot the violent overthrow of the government. Verloc does not actually share the beliefs of his fellows -- he is in fact a double agent working with the Russians to sabotage the actions of revolutionary exiles while passing information about the anarchists along to Police Inspector Heat (Jim Broadbent). Verloc is married to Winnie (Patricia Arquette), a pretty but dour young woman who doesn't care for her husband and has married only in hopes that she would be able to afford a decent home for her brother Stevie (Christian Bale), who is mentally retarded. Inspector Heat informs Verloc that the anarchists must commit some sort of major violent action soon if the police are ever going to put any of them behind bars, so Verloc persuades the Professor (Robin Williams) to help him plant some bombs, which leads to tragedy for everyone involved. Robin Williams appears unbilled in The Secret Agent; in some listings, his role is credited to George Spelvin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Patricia Arquette, (more)
Richard Loncraine takes Shakespeare's classic tale of treachery, Richard III, and transplants it to the 1930s. Ian McKellen is Richard who, as the film opens, begins plotting against his brother Edward, who has just ascended to the throne after a bloody civil war. Richard begins by seducing and wedding Lady Anne (Kristin Scott Thomas), whom he made a widow during the war. With the help of some loyal henchmen, Richard succeeds in murdering his older brother Clarence (Nigel Hawthorne), which so upsets Edward that he dies. Eventually, the crown falls to the young Prince of Wales (Marc Williamson). Richard is assigned to be the young king's protector, but instead, he has the boy and his brother jailed in the Tower of London. Richard seizes control over the country, but his ruthless quest for power eventually makes him powerful enemies, led by Henry Richman (Dominic West), who attempt to stop him. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, (more)
Director Clare Peploe (wife of Bernardo Bertolucci) adapted this blend of noir mystery and magical realism from the story Miss Shumway Waves a Wand by James Hadley Chase. Bridget Fonda stars as Myra Shumway, an apprentice to a magician (Kenneth Mars) in 1952 Los Angeles. Myra is unhappily engaged to Cliff Wyatt (D.W. Moffett), a sleazy, Howard Hughes-like uranium heir who wants to run for president. After her fiancée accidentally kills her boss, Myra flees to Mexico in search of a renowned female shaman who may be able to teach her the secrets of magic. Wyatt sends an investigator, Alex Ross (Russell Crowe), to find Myra and bring her back. A former photojournalist traumatized by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Ross finds Myra but falls for her and joins her on the quest to find the medicine woman, as does Doc Ansell (Jim Broadbent), an eccentric patent medicine salesman seeking an ancient Mayan cure for constipation. During the journey, a series of mystical events occur, including levitation during sex, a dog with the power of speech, a human being laying a blue egg, and the transformation of an assailant into a sausage. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bridget Fonda, Russell Crowe, (more)
Loosely based on an actual incident, this family-friendly British comedy is also a sly satire of class consciousness. Phoebe Cates stars as a woman who appears in the English countryside of 1817 wearing exotic garb and speaking gibberish. Delivered to a nearby manor, the mystery woman is sheltered by the Worralls (Wendy Hughes and Jim Broadbent), who are then persuaded by their suspicious Greek butler Frixos (Kevin Kline, Cates' real-life husband) to have the drifter tried for vagrancy and begging, capital crimes. At the hearing, however, the woman persuades the magistrate through pantomime that she is a princess of Javanese origin named Caraboo, escaped from pirate kidnappers. The Worralls welcome Caraboo back into their home, lavishing upon her the deference due a royal. A society sensation, Caraboo wins over a linguist (John Lithgow), the prince regent (John Session), and even Frixos. Only an Irish reporter, Gutch (Stephen Rea), remains skeptical about Caraboo's origins. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phoebe Cates, Jim Broadbent, (more)
This animated take on the story of Cinderella finds little Prince Cinders left at home by his three mean big brothers who head off to Princess Lovelypenny's party to dance the night away. Soon Prince Cinders is visited by an incompetent fairy godmother, who tries to turn him into a buff bodybuilder but instead turns him into a big hairy gorilla. Prince Cinders might make it to the party, but will they let him in if he looks like an ape? ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
This British drama was originally created for British television but was later released in the U.S. It is based on a true story and chronicles the struggles of Deric and Diana Longden, a happily married couple who try to cope with Diana's inexplicable degenerative disease which causes occasional paralysis of her extremities and periodic blackouts. The doctors have no clue as to what ails her. Their love sustains them, but finally Diana comes to grips with the fact that the illness may prove fatal. She decides that before she goes, they should find Deric a replacement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, (more)
In the Irish town of Kilshannon in the 1920s, a matriarchal clique of widows tightly sets the rules for behavior. Heading the town's ruling circle is the doughty Mrs. Counihan (Joan Plowright). The only non-widow in town is a reclusive middle-aged spinster, Miss O'Hare (Mia Farrow), who seems to be guarding some kind of secret. Crashing into this provincial coterie is dashing, urbane Edwina Broome (Natasha Richardson), who immediately starts feuding with O'Hare, for no apparent good reason. Broome mangles O'Hare's prize roses and bumps her skiff in a boat race. Counihan's dimwitted son, Godfrey (Adrian Dunbar), proposes marriage to Edwina. Eventually, the true motives of all involved are revealed. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Joan Plowright, (more)
Bullets Over Broadway is a Woody Allen romp that, as the title suggests, combines gangsters with show business at the height of the Roaring Twenties. David Shayne (John Cusack) is a straight-arrow playwright who plans to stand firm against compromising his work, but quickly abandons that stance when his producer (Jack Warden) finds a backer to mount his show on Broadway. There's just one catch, however: the backer is a mobster (Joe Viterelli) who sees Shayne's play as a vehicle for his dizzy, talent-free girlfriend, Olive (Jennifer Tilly). Shayne also has to deal with the demands of veteran theatre diva Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest) and is shocked to discover that Olive's hitman bodyguard, Cheech (Chazz Palminteri), is probably a better playwright than he is, as he secretly revises Shayne's work when he sits in on rehearsals. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Jack Warden, (more)
Previously filmed in 1935 with Ann Harding, Enchanted April, a romantic novel by Elizabeth, was remade in 1992. The first film skips along superficially at 66 minutes: the second, directed by the always intriguing Mike Newell, runs 101 minutes, allowing for richer characterizations and a bottomless reserve of brilliant dialogue. Two cloistered, married English women (Josie Lawrence, Miranda Richardson) impulsively rent an Italian villa and embark upon a vacation without their spouses. They are joined by two other ladies: the high-flown aging widow Joan Plowright, and elegant upper-crust beauty Polly Walker) whom they've never met. Under the spell of an exotic new location, the foursome are in for quite a few life-altering experiences, many of them amusing, and not a few very surprising. Impeccably accurate in its recreation of European manners and mores in the 1920s, Enchanted April is sheer bliss from fade-in to fade-out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, (more)
In this successful psychological thriller, a reluctant agent of the Irish Republican Army discovers that some people just aren't who you expect them to be. Fergus (Stephen Rea) is an IRA "volunteer" who, despite personal misgivings, takes part in the kidnapping of a black British soldier, Jody (Forest Whitaker), stationed in Northern Ireland. The IRA hopes to use Jody as a bargaining chip to win the release of IRA operatives behind bars, but, while guarding Jody, Fergus becomes fast friends with his prisoner. Jody makes Fergus promise him that if he dies, Fegus will look in on his girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson), and see if she's all right. Jody escapes, and Fergus doesn't have the heart to shoot him; as fate would have it, Jody runs from the woods into a street only to be run over by a British police vehicle, which then flushes out the IRA compound. Fergus escapes to London, where he's wanted by the law for Jody's kidnapping and also by his former girlfriend, IRA operative Jude (Miranda Richardson), who thinks he knows too much to fall into the hands of the British authorities. Good to his word, Fergus tracks down Dil, and soon the two outcasts find themselves entering into a love affair, although Fergus discovers that Dil is not the sort of woman he thought she was. Writer/director Neil Jordan won an Academy Award for his screenplay; the title song, which was a U.K. hit for Dave Berry in 1965, was re-recorded for the film by one-time Culture Club vocalist Boy George with backing by the Pet Shop Boys. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, (more)
Golden Globe-winner Linus Roache stars as tormented postimpressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh in this award winning BBC production that follows the man behind "Starry Night" as he travels from Paris to England, falls in love, creates his masterpieces, and ultimately succumbs to his own inner demons. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
Mike Leigh's situation comedy about a lower middle-class family in the London suburbs is a slice-of-life chronicle that subtly reveals the pain and rage underneath the surface of day-to-day conventions. The youngish parents, Wendy (Alison Steadman) and Andy (Jim Broadbent) live with their 20-something twin daughters, Nicola (Jane Horrocks) and Natalie (Claire Skinner). Natalie, a plumber's assistant, is clean-cut and forever looks on the bright side of life. Nicola, who is unemployed, has nothing but contempt for conventionality. As the daughters deal with the obsessively sunny Wendy and the lackadaisical Andy, and confront a succession of ne'er-do-well friends and neighbors, a darker picture is painted of this normal family -- particularly Nicola, who is convinced she is fat and ugly (despite her emaciated appearance), with Natalie being a constant rebuke to her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, (more)
- 1989
Having previously headlined a series of short TV skits and monologues, British comedienne-composer Victoria Wood graduated to the anthology format in this six-episode offering. Individual episode titles included "Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah," "The Library," "Over to Pam," "We'd Quite Like to Apologize," "Val De Ree (Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha)," and "Staying In." All playlets were written by the star, as was the piano music heard between scenes. Appearing in support of Wood was an impressive coterie of British guest stars and comedy "regulars," including her old professional cronies Julie Walters, Duncan Preston, Celia Imrie, and Susie Blake. Victoria Wood originally aired from November 16 to December 21, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Wood, Celia Imrie, (more)
An unusually principled young Viking becomes increasing uncomfortable with all the killing and plundering that goes with the job, and sets out on a magical journey in order to bring about world peace. Former Monty Python member Terry Jones attempts to have his story of Erik's seemingly hopeless quest operate as both witty, lunatic satire and sincere children's fantasy. However, despite a good cast and some interesting design elements, the film fails to completely succeed at either of its goals. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Gary Cady, (more)
- 1988
Jake (Clive Owen) and Ringe (David Thewlis) keep a 1950s American car under wraps in hopes of someday escaping their drab town. When Jake falls for divorcee Susan (Diana Quick), she joins Jake and Ringe on a joyride, but the excitement of their initial freedom is short-lived, as they are soon bilked of all their money. Jake realizes his two companions do not share in his idea of carefree motoring, and he brings the two back home. Jake symbolically flies in his vehicle over the town he left behind. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Quick, Clive Owen, (more)
