The main story is set in a British Military Intelligence Office in Whitehall during 1956, where a
The main story is set in a British Military Intelligence Office in Whitehall during 1956, where a small group of foreign affairs analysts find their quiet existence disrupted by the Suez Crisis. Ewan McGregor plays Mick Hopper, who is doing his national service as an interpreter of Russian documents. Bored with his job, Hopper spends his days creating fantasy daydreams that involve his work colleagues breaking into contemporary hit songs. Louise Germaine plays Sylvia Berry, the blonde wife of the violent Corporal Pete Berry (Douglas Henshall). Sylvia is an object of desire for Mick's fellow clerk Private Francis Francis and a middle-aged pipe-organist named Harold Atterbow (Roy Hudd). Unlike the street-wise Hopper, Francis is a clumsy Welsh intellectual whose academic career has been interrupted by his army call up. The appearance of the bookish niece of a seconded American officer enables the two conscripts to pair off with suitable partners, after initial mismatching. Some of the side themes include the influence of American rock and roll on English society, the gulf between the senior analysts, who are regular army officers, and the conscripted other ranks, the work of Russian playwright Chekhov, and the appreciation of opulent theatre pipe organs. The unusual context — a military culture transplanted into a civil service style office environment — reflects Potter's own national service during the 1950s. While this piece has the form of a romantic comedy, unlike the less conventional works of Dennis Potter's middle period, it is not without graphic sex and violence, as well as Potter's characteristic flashes of dreamlike imagery. The centrepiece of this production is the surreal musical sequence set to the song In a Persian Market.
主演:伊万·麦克格雷格 Ewan McGregor, 娜塔莉·波特曼 Natalie Portman, 海登·克里斯滕森 Hayden Christensen, 伊恩·麦克迪阿梅德 Ian McDiarmid, 塞缪尔·杰克逊 Samuel L. Jackson, 吉米·斯密茨 Jimmy Smits, 弗兰克·奥兹 Frank Oz, 安东尼·丹尼尔斯 Anthony Daniels, 克里斯托弗·李 Christopher Lee, 凯莎·卡斯特-休伊斯 Keisha Castle-Hughes, 西拉斯