'Found a voice, have you, Rita? Found a better song to sing? No, you've found a ‘different’ song to sing, that’s all --- and on your lips it is shrill and hollow and tuneless.'
The other major character, Dr. Frank Bryant is a professor who works at the Open University. He suffers from a low self-esteem, having attempted to become a poet and a failed relationship. He values little of his life and takes drinking as a solution to his problems. Struggling to remain sober at times, he is known to be a rather sloppy teacher and is made fun by the students. His lifestyle continues with emptiness until the day he meets Rita. Astonished by Rita’s unusual character, he was disinclined to teach her literature at first, as it only seems dead, dishonest and meaningless to him. Afraid that teaching her the English literature would mean losing her unique insight, he says: ‘I don’t know what to teach you…what you have is already too valuable’. A displeased Rita confronts him, claiming that he is the only tutor for her which makes him finally give in, successfully giving her enough knowledge required to pass the exam. Throughout these tuitions, Rita and Frank share stories about their personal life. These lessons soon become a huge impact on Frank’s life as he slowly breaks free from his cage and learns to care for people, value his life and move on from the past.
Throughout the film, those who have read the original play may have noticed many differences compared with the film to the play. Frank’s girlfriend Julia has a long-term affair with another colleague, which never existed in the play. The existence of this colleague and dishonest behaviour Julia has destroys the image of the organised, strict, lady in the play. Another change was that after Denny kicks Rita out, he gets a new girlfriend, Barbara, who is even pregnant in the film, though in the play she doesn’t exist. However, the ending was one of the most significant changes to the film. In the play, it finishes off with Rita giving Frank a haircut whilst in the film it shows the two departing at an airport where Frank leaves off to Australia, and a hesitant Rita heads back in the end. Whilst the play deserves credit for the symbolic ending, the film deserves credit for the warm embrace of the two and the departure where it shows that both have moved on with their lives.
On a side note, the setting was an interesting matter. Whilst in the original play, there was only one setting, which was in Frank’s office, the film has the settings in many different locations. The change here has a strong impact on the whole film, since it not only brightens the whole film a bit, and it also gives the audience different visuals of all the locations mentioned throughout the play. We had a view of outside the university, where the exams were, Frank’s house, Trish’s house, etc and an additional setting: the airport.
For the overall quality of the film, I’d have to say it was a splendid job for the 1980s. The costumes were all fairly appropriate for the 1980s, though Rita’s hair seems almost too old for her young and bright personality, they did a good job showing how Rita changes with the difference in the clothes she wears in the beginning till the end.
The film editing was also good, as it makes relevant connections with scenes to scenes, and effects like fade-outs, overlaps and some other transitions. The lighting however, wasn’t as well put. Though Frank’s room is supposedly thought to be dark, and gloomy I felt the film could have improved by making the light in his room slowly brighter, hence creating a happier atmosphere as Rita turns Frank’s life into a breath of fresh air. The film however had a strange soundtrack of the 80’s synthesised music. The music was too loud and distracting, destroying the emotion and atmosphere rather than adding touch to it. In significant scenes where it is intense, the background synthesised music just ruins it, making it melodramatic, like the scene where Rita finds Trish unconscious on the bed. This is one big area the film could improve in.
For the acting, Michael Caine and Julie Walters did a brilliant job, although Caine was more outstanding. Walters, looking and being much old than her character could not cover up that fact even with her young, high spirit in the film. The best thing about the film however –though credit should mainly go to the play- was that it kept realistic. There were no cheesy or cliché lines, no lovey-dovey student-teacher relationship or a happy-sappy ending. Everything in the film was almost symbolic to real life and those who like reality more should definitely pick this film up next time they go to a DVD store.
A fairly good film overall -though not overly impressing- deserves around 6-7 stars out of 10. It would be recommended to those who are interested in drama and comedies, and is essential to Michael Caine and Walters fans. However, this film is rated PG for vulgar humour and rude language mostly of English slang and is not for the weak-hearted.
