Stephen Frears (British Film Makers)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Hull
Department Name: Humanities
Abstract
The proposed research examines the work of Stephen Frears, a respected and prolific British film director who continues to achieve critical and commercial success in Britain and around the world (his most recent BAFTA win and Oscar nomination came in 2007 for The Queen).
'Francois Truffaut once famously said that there was a certain incompatibility between the words British and Cinema. Well, bollocks to Truffaut.' So says Stephen Frears in his documentary Typically British, an affectionate personal history of British filmmaking. It reinforces the sense of his own work as a staunch defence of British cinema, as his varied and fascinating body of work that thrives in the lineage of David Lean, Michael Powell or Carol Reed. He is associated with the radical, subcultural My Beautiful Laundrette and 'small' films rooted in social observation such as The Snapper. In America, he has come to be seen by studios and critics as embodying the virtues of the great British director: professionalism, surety of performance, nuanced understanding of text, a feeling for genre. And yet, any study of Frears as the central, culturally-privileged author is complicated by Frears himself, who sees cinema as collaborative (he has described as 'nonsense' those studies that put 'directors on a pedestal'), making this study a richly contested space.
Several of his films are already the subject of research and teaching - including My Beautiful Laundrette, which is concerned with sexuality and Britain's Asian community. This study will engage with such films as Dirty Pretty Things, Mary Reilly, The Grifters and Dangerous Liaisons as well as discussing his television work (for instance, with Alan Bennett and his recent production The Deal). This makes this study more than simply a chronological study of a director's films but in fact a study of developments in British cinema, television and academic study of these forms.
In its consideration of Frears, this research will consider changing ideas of national cinema, the changing role of television within art cinema and Frears's engagement with politics - he has self-deprecatingly described his work as entertainment in comparison with the committed politics of Ken Loach, but his work explores important contemporary issues such as multi-culturalism and diaspora, party politics, gender and power, and the power relationships in his films often work within strongly-drawn social landscapes.
Although specific chapter breakdowns will emerge during research, they will include some of the following. There will be an introduction to place his films in their academic and critical context. There will be research on his early period (rarely written about) with Lindsay Anderson and the Royal Court. There will be work on his early television drama and his Film on Four cinema success that has led to debates on how 'cinematic' a television film can really be: case studies here will include Bloody Kids and The Hit, two films that use landscape to reflect psychological motivation. There will be a section on My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears (on Joe Orton) and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, three films on sexual/political/racial/sexual difference within detailed subcultures. Although mostly anti-Thatcherite in intent, these films discuss social dynamics through individual relationships. My Beautiful Laundrette also requires study of recent Anglo-Asian texts such as East is East and Goodness Gracious Me. There will be study of his greatest film, The Grifters, for which he was personally chosen by Martin Scorsese, and Hollywood work such as The Hi-Lo Country. His recent British work explores cultural and personal memory, for instance Liam and Mrs Henderson Presents. The recent Dirty Pretty Things returns to the multicultural setting, political edge and revisioning of London so memorably created in Laundrette and which demonstrates that Frears remains one of British cinema's most skilled and passionate directors.
'Francois Truffaut once famously said that there was a certain incompatibility between the words British and Cinema. Well, bollocks to Truffaut.' So says Stephen Frears in his documentary Typically British, an affectionate personal history of British filmmaking. It reinforces the sense of his own work as a staunch defence of British cinema, as his varied and fascinating body of work that thrives in the lineage of David Lean, Michael Powell or Carol Reed. He is associated with the radical, subcultural My Beautiful Laundrette and 'small' films rooted in social observation such as The Snapper. In America, he has come to be seen by studios and critics as embodying the virtues of the great British director: professionalism, surety of performance, nuanced understanding of text, a feeling for genre. And yet, any study of Frears as the central, culturally-privileged author is complicated by Frears himself, who sees cinema as collaborative (he has described as 'nonsense' those studies that put 'directors on a pedestal'), making this study a richly contested space.
Several of his films are already the subject of research and teaching - including My Beautiful Laundrette, which is concerned with sexuality and Britain's Asian community. This study will engage with such films as Dirty Pretty Things, Mary Reilly, The Grifters and Dangerous Liaisons as well as discussing his television work (for instance, with Alan Bennett and his recent production The Deal). This makes this study more than simply a chronological study of a director's films but in fact a study of developments in British cinema, television and academic study of these forms.
In its consideration of Frears, this research will consider changing ideas of national cinema, the changing role of television within art cinema and Frears's engagement with politics - he has self-deprecatingly described his work as entertainment in comparison with the committed politics of Ken Loach, but his work explores important contemporary issues such as multi-culturalism and diaspora, party politics, gender and power, and the power relationships in his films often work within strongly-drawn social landscapes.
Although specific chapter breakdowns will emerge during research, they will include some of the following. There will be an introduction to place his films in their academic and critical context. There will be research on his early period (rarely written about) with Lindsay Anderson and the Royal Court. There will be work on his early television drama and his Film on Four cinema success that has led to debates on how 'cinematic' a television film can really be: case studies here will include Bloody Kids and The Hit, two films that use landscape to reflect psychological motivation. There will be a section on My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears (on Joe Orton) and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, three films on sexual/political/racial/sexual difference within detailed subcultures. Although mostly anti-Thatcherite in intent, these films discuss social dynamics through individual relationships. My Beautiful Laundrette also requires study of recent Anglo-Asian texts such as East is East and Goodness Gracious Me. There will be study of his greatest film, The Grifters, for which he was personally chosen by Martin Scorsese, and Hollywood work such as The Hi-Lo Country. His recent British work explores cultural and personal memory, for instance Liam and Mrs Henderson Presents. The recent Dirty Pretty Things returns to the multicultural setting, political edge and revisioning of London so memorably created in Laundrette and which demonstrates that Frears remains one of British cinema's most skilled and passionate directors.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| David Rolinson (Principal Investigator) |
