In its first 15 minutes I half expected Withnail & I, Bruce Robinson’s
semi-autobiographical tale of two unemployed actors boozing it up in the
English countryside, to become a Beckett-influenced sojourn into existential
trappings. While the two titular characters wallow in misery in their wretched
London flat it begins to feel like two souls trapped in an endless loop. A
little more happens than a bit of Waiting
for Godot.
This was Richard E. Grant’s film debut playing Withnail
and here he perfected his signature sneer, off-hand sarcastic remarks, and
general temperament of displeasure with everything. His friend, flatmate and
fellow struggling actor’s name is never spoken, although Marwood can be seen on
an envelope. Played by Paul McGann he is no less a brooding personality than
Withnail, although he is more replete with angst and a general queasiness about
everything.
Together they live in squalor, lamenting their situation
and the inability of any agent to get them a decent audition. They are
dissatisfied with everything and nearly ready to give up when Marwood suggests
they take the weekend at the country home of Withnail’s uncle Monty. Visiting
him in his lavish and stately London home, they must endure his theatricality
and imbibe him with platitudes to procure the key to the country home.
Hoping a weekend in the countryside will have a
restorative effect, they set out completely unprepared for inclement weather or
rustic living. They bring no foul weather gear, no Wellingtons for traipsing
through the country mud, and they have to destroy the furniture for wood to
burn for heat. But this is more than a fish-out-of-water comedy. Robinson makes
it about two young men growing up (well, one of them refusing to) at the end of
the swinging 60s. The end of the decade sort of hangs like a pall over Marwood
and Withnail. They don’t quite know how to handle the suggestion that the
changing of the calendar brings with it the end to dope smoking, binge drinking
and general lethargy. Although the time period setting is somewhat essential to
the story, it took me quite a while before I knew for certain that it was not
set contemporaneously with the time it was made. So in spite of being
necessarily set in 1969, there is a timeless quality to the film.
Their time in the country brings more surprise than cure.
Withnail half expects all the local conversation to be about things farm-related.
Unable to purchase food for lack of local supermarkets, they strike a deal with
a local for a chicken, which arrives still breathing. What could have very
easily become a slapstick comedy remains fiendishly clever and darkly funny
because of Robinson’s keen wit.
When Monty shows up to spend time with the lads,
believing he might have a romantic fling with Marwood, the story transitions to
a bedroom farce. You can almost see the possibilities of its being presented as
a stage play. This turns out to be a welcome respite from the negativity and
dark humor that Withnail engenders and also augurs the beginning of real
tension between the two friends and their divergence as Marwood prepares to
move on with his life, grasping firmly to life as the 1970s quickly approach.
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