WEEKEND
UK, 2011, 97 minutes, Colour.
Tom Cullen, Chris New.
Directed by Andrew Haig.
A small-budget British drama, a story of a relationship developing and/or breaking over a weekend. The film has won quite a number of overseas awards.
The weekend is that of Russell who is in his mid-20s and works in supervision at a swimming pool. His background is an orphanage when he was a child and he still keeps in touch with a friend from those days and visits his family. Russell, however, lives alone, introspective in many ways. But, on the way home from his friend’s house, he goes to a gay bar, eventually returning home with Glen.
Much of the film consists of conversation between Russell and Glen and covers most of the issues that are of concern to gay men as well as to those who want to understand more of the lives of gay men and their search for relationships.
Russell has not succeeded in finding the right person for him. At this stage of his life, despite some casual pickups, he is looking for something deeper and more permanent. Glen, on the other hand, is not. He is ideologically opposed to commitment. He tapes Russell talking about his experiences for one of his art projects. This enables writer-director, Andrew Haigh, to voice different perspectives on love, sexuality, commitment and the issue of civil unions. Glen is about to go to study in the US, so there does not seem to be any prospect of long-term relationships. The film also includes some intimate sequences between the two men, visually and with frank language.
Audiences who identify with Russell or with Glen will find that the characters, exploring their own attitudes, offer opinions for thought. Those who don’t identify may be put off by having to listen closely to these men or they may be helped to some kind of better understanding.
1. Critical acclaim, many awards?
2. The Nottingham setting, the apartment blocks, the houses, the clubs? The ordinariness of the city? The characters within this context?
3. The title, from Friday to Sunday? A significant weekend for the two central characters?
4. The focus on Russell? At home, the bath, getting ready to go out, with his friends, their house, the party, the wife, the children, drinking? His saying he would go home? The introduction to Russell? Audience awareness of his relationships?
5. Russell going to the gay club, the recreation of the club, the clients, the music, the pickups? Russell at the bar? Encountering the men? His meeting up with Glen? Their bonding, their going home together?
6. Russell and Glen, the next morning, their discussions? The film as a conversation piece? The different attitudes of the two men? Their interactions, changes of ideas? The issue of their homosexuality, their behaviour, the need for relationships or not? Glen and his plans to go to Oregon to study art? His taping Tom for his art project? His leaving?
7. Russell, his character, his age, twenty-five? His background as an orphan, his friend in the orphanage, the continued friendship? His sexual orientation? His need for relationships, his search? The one-night stands? His expectations from Glen? Having him in the house, the sexual behaviour? The discussions, the growing awareness of the difference of perspectives? The arguments about commitment? Long-term relationships? Civil unions and marriage? His reaction to Glen? Glen’s leaving, his disappointment? Glen’s return, the continuation of the discussion, the intimacy? Glen and his not changing his mind? The long-term effect on Russell?
8. Glen, character, gay orientation, behaviour, at the bars, the pickups? His unwillingness to have any commitment? His not approving of civil unions? With Russell, preparing the breakfast, his art project, taping him? The intimacy and frankness? His studying art, going to Oregon? Leaving? His reasons for coming back, the effect on himself, on Russell? A future?
9. The background, the friend from the orphanage, his wife, family, the children, Russell at home with the family and the children?
10. A portrait of men, their search, loneliness, relationships, society and their sexual orientation? The film helping audiences to understand the characters? Insights into the issues?
