SAMMY AND ROSIE GET LAID
UK, 1987, 101 minutes. Colour.
Shashi Kapoor, Frances Barber, Claire Bloom, Ayoub Khan- Din, Roland Gift, Wendy Gazelle, Meera Syal.
Directed by Stephen Frears.
1. The work of Hanif Kureishi, his novels, plays, screenplays? His observations on English society in the 70s and 80s? his Pakistani background? The collaboration with Stephen Frears? The perspectives of My Beautiful Laundrette? This film and England in the 1980s? The Thatcher era? Poverty, war, class distinctions, race and racism, sexual freedom?
2. London, the slums, the atmosphere of war, the buskers, the police and shootings, the flats, the contrast with affluence, riots in the streets, ordinary life, swinging London, the underpasses and squalor? The score and the range of music? The use of My Girl?
3. Mrs Thatcher, audience reaction to her at the time? Later? Her appearance at the opening, setting the tone? The title, the focus, the tone? The references to Sammy and to Rosie and to each other? Their relationship, their lack of relationship, lack of sexual relationship? The patterns and the split screens?
4. The racial situation, Pakistan in the 1940s, the aftermath of Partition? Pakistani desperatism, tyrannies, responsibilities? Pakistanis coming to London? A better life – or life in caravans? The ordinary British and their struggles? Integrity? The older British people with backgrounds in India? The experience of Partition, peace and war, complexities?
5. Sammy and Rosie, their being married, not relating with each other? Living with each other? Sammy and the relationship with Wendy? Commitment yet open? Sammy and his upwardly mobile attitudes, relationships, accountant, friends? His being abandoned by his father, resenting him? Anti-Pakistani? stances? Wanting to be a Londoner? Rosie, British, her work, smiling, her relationships, living with Sammy, the experience of her father-in-law? The ambiguities of her life? Welcoming him, interest, the issue of money, the sources of the father-in-law’s money, Sammy Willing, Rosie unwilling?
6. Rafi’s arrival, his history, his family, his work in Pakistan, abandoning his son, opting for government and money? His arrival, the ugly scenes? The dangers, his being rescued by Victoria? His being shocked, the two lesbians? Sammy and Rosie, their talk, promises, arguments, the meals and upheaval? Justifying themselves? Rafi justifying himself? The lesbians and the interview? The party, the behaviour? His relationship with Alice, remembering his past, his youth in London, his dreams about Alice, the passing of twenty years? Victoria as his guide – and the attacks? Pushing people away? Alice at the party? Rafi staying with her, the effect, leaving? His puzzle, the violence? The dream of his death? The taxi driver, one eye, the ghost – and the memories of the torture that he endorsed? The violence and his being rescued? Hanging himself?
7. Victoria/Danny? The transgender issue, a nice personality, shooting the effect, helping Rafi, with Alice, with Sammy and Rosie? The child, the caravan and squatting, at the party? The relationship with Rosie, helping her? Moving on?
8. Alice, her character, past, British, the relationship with Rafi in the past? His return, the party, the sexual encounter, talking with him, rejecting him, blaming him for what he had done in government?
9. The range of friends, London Pakistanis, the lesbian couple? The background of Pakistani torture?
10. Wendy, the American background, with Sammy, the party, the photos?
11. The buskers, pleasant, their songs, hope? Singing My Girl during the sex scene?
12. The party, the sexual encounters, their effect?
13. The background of race, race issues, in Britain post-World War Two, the changes by the 1980s – foreshadowing things to come?
14. The film’s comment on class in Britain, political stances, conservatism, the role of money, ambitions? The place of women? In Britain, in Pakistani communities?
15. A film of observation, the audiences invited to observe the characters, the situations, the behaviour?
