Product Description

A powerful adaptation of one of modern drama's most celebrated plays. Since it first premiered on London’s West End in 1956, John Osborne’s LOOK BACK IN ANGER has shocked audiences with its blunt portrayal of domestic realism. Now available for the first time on DVD, Academy Award®-nominee Kenneth Branagh (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and Academy Award®-winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) star in this powerful Thames Television adaptation of Osborne’s enduring classic. LOOK BACK IN ANGER tells the simple but gripping story of Jimmy Porter (Kenneth Branagh), an angry young man with a college education and a dead-end job. Feeling trapped by his circumstances, his squalid post-war flat, and spurred on by self-pity, Porter lashes out against his wife, Allison (Emma Thompson), his lover, Helena (Siobhan Redmond), and his business partner, Cliff (Gerard Horan). Fierce, compassionate, funny, and ultimately cathartic, John Osborne's classic "kitchen sink" drama, as directed by Academy Award®-winner Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love), is a masterpiece of ensemble acting. DVD Features: An Angry Young Man: A Look Back at Look Back In Anger--An Interview with Kenneth Branagh; Cast Biographies; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47825 in DVD
• Brand: A&E
• Released on: 2005-09-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.com
When John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger debuted in 1956, the main character--ranting, relentless, infuriating Jimmy Porter--galvanized audiences and spoke for a young generation frustrated with stagnant life in postwar England. In this contemporary film adaptation, Jimmy Porter (Kenneth Branagh, Henry V, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), an educated but unfulfilled man, runs a sweet shop and flails at his submissive wife Alison (Emma Thompson, Sense & Sensibility, Angels in America) and everyone else around him. Bitter and self-aggrandizing, Jimmy thinks he's the only one who sees through the suffocating illusions of bourgeois life; he excuses his verbal cruelties as attempts to goad others to wake up to life. Today, Jimmy's behavior may seem less like exhortations to live and more like domestic abuse, but there's no denying it's a juicy, complex role that Branagh digs into with gusto. Branagh's acting can often be vain and self-congratulatory, but here he's aggressive and doesn't shy away from Jimmy's unflattering aspects. Thompson gives a dependably smart and soulful performance. This TV movie version doesn't deviate from the stage production directed in 1989 by Dame Judi Dench (Oscar-winner for Shakespeare in Love); it's Osborne's divisive play presented in all its warts and glory, with no cinematic tricks to cover anything up. In an extra feature, Branagh provides valuable historical context for both the play and the production. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

An exhausting, cathartic emotional experience.
This is minimalist filmed version of a play originally directed for the stage by Judi Dench. In my opinion, it's also Kenneth Branagh's finest screen performance. For a full two hours, he is Jimmy Porter, the man you want to hate but can't help but love. He's one of the educated lower class, burdened by ego and unfulfilled potential. He's an urban lion with a huge heart and claws that constantly torture those around him, namely his wife (Emma Thompson).
These characters are so real, you'll dream about them afterward, and if you give it a chance, this film will work its way into your heart and teach you something about life.

Not What You Would Expect
Don't get me wrong, it is an excellent play. Well-acted and well-directed, but for Kenneth Branagh's USA fans, the character of Jimmy is a little tough to take at first. However, once you get some background on the characters, you find yourself very involved in the story. Fair warning, this is a play for adults and is very emotionally (usually negatively) charged. Don't be put off by that fact, though. The excellent performances alone make it well-worth watching.

This Just In . . .
This movie is for anyone who didn't handle their past relationships perfectly and who wants to understand they are not alone in the mistakes they made.

I agree with another reviewer - this is my favorite Kenneth Brannagh performance. I've enjoyed him in other things, but I usually find myself looking at the screen and thinking, "Hey, there's charismatic Kenneth Branagh doing a charismatic acting performance." But his charisma is well placed in this part, playing Jimmy Porter, a man whose ideas are larger than his station, who is overwrought with the limitations of his era.

Jimmy: "They all want to escape from the pain of being alive, and most of all from love . . . It's no good trying to fool yourself about love, you can't fall into it like a soft job without dirtying up your hands. It takes muscle and guts. And if you can't bare the thought of messing up your nice, clean soul . . . then you'd better . . . become a saint, because you'll never make it as a human being. It's either this world or the next."

I don't know if the title of the play is ironic, sarcastic, tragic or literal - probably all four and more.

Jimmy: "You made a good enemy, didn't you? What they call a worthy opponent."
Alison: "I love you."

Alison: "You know, I keep looking back as far as I can remember, and I can't remember what it was to feel young . . . really young."

I titled this review "This Just In" because I feel kind of silly reviewing a movie that came out 17 years ago. But I recommend it because Judy Dench's choice to film the movie like a stage play was exceptional. A point of this play is to look at human relations in the confines of a small living space, small social circle, and British social constructs. And watching the characters, we see how difficult each conversational reply is because everyone in the room knows so much about each other's past. Their small space becomes even more difficult to move in, as they avoid the land mines, slip between the elephants, and struggle with eye contact. Yet despite the constant hardship, love survives.

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