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      The Ploughman's Lunch

      R 1983 1h 40m Drama List
      Reviews 41% 50+ Ratings Audience Score Journalist James Penfield (Jonathan Pryce) starts working on a book about the 1956 Suez Crisis while he also begins pursuing TV reporter Susan Barrington (Charlie Dore). Unable to attract her attention, James follows his friend Jeremy Hancock's (Tim Curry) suggestion that he befriend Susan's mother, Ann (Rosemary Harris), to get closer to her daughter. As James spends more time with Ann, he realizes he has more in common with the mother than the daughter. Read More Read Less

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      The Ploughman's Lunch

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      Audience Reviews

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      harri k I'm not usually the one to say it and the film does make some good points and perhaps some acute observations about media landscape and certain types of journalists but, I mean, nothing happens. It's all rather pointless. Like Falklands War. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Written by novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan (The Good Son (1993) and Atonement (2001), and directed by Iris Richard Eyre (Iris (2001) and Notes on a Scandal (2006)), this is a powerful yet slow-burning drama which was EXTREMELY topical for it's day, as it was filmed around real events going on in the UK at that time. It's got a good selection of British actors on top form in the film. In 1982, James Penfield (Jonathan Pryce) is a motivated and ambitious reporter for BBC Radio who has been asked to write about the Suez Crisis, while the Falklands War dominates the news. James has become attracted to Susan Barrington (Charlie Dore), a TV journalist working for London Weekend Television, who was introduced to James by his old college chum Jeremy Hancock (Tim Curry). To research his work on the Suez Crisis, Susan suggests James contacts her mother Ann Barrington (Rosemary Harris), who wrote an article about the crisis, but it's not long before James ends up spending more time with Ann than Susan. It's such a realistic film, it's almost a stone's throw away from being classed as a documentary, even as parts of it were filmed at the 1982 Conservative Party conference, with Thatcher and her cronies giving speeches. It says a lot about the social classes of 80's Britain, and the gulf that was opening up between the classes. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member A rather too literary satire of Thatcher-era England, with Jonathan Pryce as an opportunistic radio reporter who sees a chance for self-promotion in the declaration of the Falklands war. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member I love Tim Curry, which is the reason I thought this might be a decent movie, but it's so slow and boring, I couldn't watch the whole thing, and Curry's only got a scene here and there. The story is very political and talky, I didn't find anything interesting since I don't know much of anything about politics. Overall, I did not like this movie. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Ploughman's Lunch

      The Ploughman's Lunch (1983) The Ploughman's Lunch (1983) View more photos

      Critics Reviews

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      Eddie Harrison film-authority.com ...an explosive political film... Rated: 5/5 Sep 4, 2021 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jun 26, 2005 Full Review TV Guide Rated: 4/5 Jul 30, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Journalist James Penfield (Jonathan Pryce) starts working on a book about the 1956 Suez Crisis while he also begins pursuing TV reporter Susan Barrington (Charlie Dore). Unable to attract her attention, James follows his friend Jeremy Hancock's (Tim Curry) suggestion that he befriend Susan's mother, Ann (Rosemary Harris), to get closer to her daughter. As James spends more time with Ann, he realizes he has more in common with the mother than the daughter.
      Director
      Richard Eyre
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Aug 6, 2016
      Runtime
      1h 40m
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