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In ‘The Party,’ a Portrait of a U.K. Deep in ‘Brexit’ Bitterness In ‘The Party,’ a Portrait of a U.K. Divided by ‘Brexit’
(35 minutes later)
LONDON — The party in “The Party” doesn’t go too well.LONDON — The party in “The Party” doesn’t go too well.
In the film, the latest to be written and directed by Sally Potter, Kristin Scott Thomas stars as a British lawmaker who has invited a few friends to her London home to celebrate a promotion to a senior position in the opposition. But before she can pour the Champagne, her husband, played by Timothy Spall, makes a less happy announcement. Secrets are revealed, relationships are shattered, drugs are snorted, pistols are drawn, canapés are burned — and the party’s over.In the film, the latest to be written and directed by Sally Potter, Kristin Scott Thomas stars as a British lawmaker who has invited a few friends to her London home to celebrate a promotion to a senior position in the opposition. But before she can pour the Champagne, her husband, played by Timothy Spall, makes a less happy announcement. Secrets are revealed, relationships are shattered, drugs are snorted, pistols are drawn, canapés are burned — and the party’s over.
The good news for Ms. Potter, 68, is that “The Party” is her most widely acclaimed film since her lavish adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando” solidified her reputation in 1992. The bad news for the people of Britain is that she has called her nightmarish farce “quite consciously a snapshot of the state of the nation.”The good news for Ms. Potter, 68, is that “The Party” is her most widely acclaimed film since her lavish adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando” solidified her reputation in 1992. The bad news for the people of Britain is that she has called her nightmarish farce “quite consciously a snapshot of the state of the nation.”
Just before the release here in Britain this week, Ms. Potter said that the disastrous soiree was “a microcosm of a whole nation in a great political crisis, a crisis about who we are, a crisis about nationalism.”Just before the release here in Britain this week, Ms. Potter said that the disastrous soiree was “a microcosm of a whole nation in a great political crisis, a crisis about who we are, a crisis about nationalism.”
Although she finished the screenplay before Britain voted last year to leave the European Union, and the film’s machine-gun dialogue never touches on “Brexit,” Ms. Potter had her “ear to the ground, listening to the grumblings and groanings” while she was writing, she said.Although she finished the screenplay before Britain voted last year to leave the European Union, and the film’s machine-gun dialogue never touches on “Brexit,” Ms. Potter had her “ear to the ground, listening to the grumblings and groanings” while she was writing, she said.
The arguments that explode between guests played by Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz and Cillian Murphy represent the squabbles being played out across the country.The arguments that explode between guests played by Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz and Cillian Murphy represent the squabbles being played out across the country.
“What you’re seeing with Brexit, and in the film, is a kind of civil war that starts small and gets bigger,” Ms. Potter said. “There are multiple forms of fracture between the characters, but they all revolve around the issue of truth and lies, and fake self-presentation. That was what I noticed in politics when I was writing the script. There seemed to be a way of spinning truth that was relentlessly inauthentic.”“What you’re seeing with Brexit, and in the film, is a kind of civil war that starts small and gets bigger,” Ms. Potter said. “There are multiple forms of fracture between the characters, but they all revolve around the issue of truth and lies, and fake self-presentation. That was what I noticed in politics when I was writing the script. There seemed to be a way of spinning truth that was relentlessly inauthentic.”
If this all makes “The Party” sound like a social occasion you’d prefer to miss, it should be noted that it is Ms. Potter’s nimblest, most buoyantly comic work. When it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February, audiences guffawed and critics raved. Months later, in her office in a converted shoe factory in East London, Ms. Potter laughed that the response had been “nectar from heaven.”If this all makes “The Party” sound like a social occasion you’d prefer to miss, it should be noted that it is Ms. Potter’s nimblest, most buoyantly comic work. When it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February, audiences guffawed and critics raved. Months later, in her office in a converted shoe factory in East London, Ms. Potter laughed that the response had been “nectar from heaven.”
As fast and funny as “The Party” is, it says a lot about her oeuvre that the film, her most accessible, is a black-and-white, 71-minute, real-time tale of mortality and betrayal. It’s as mainstream as Ms. Potter gets, but it’s not very mainstream at all.As fast and funny as “The Party” is, it says a lot about her oeuvre that the film, her most accessible, is a black-and-white, 71-minute, real-time tale of mortality and betrayal. It’s as mainstream as Ms. Potter gets, but it’s not very mainstream at all.
If you had tried to predict what Ms. Potter would do after “Orlando” won awards around the world, you would probably have pictured a run of glossy, prestigious, Oscar-bait movies, à la Anthony Minghella and Lasse Hallstrom. Philip French, a former critic for the British newspaper The Observer, even suggested that she should make a Harry Potter film, although that might have been because he couldn’t resist the wordplay. “I’d love to see what happened,” he wrote, “when Harry Potter met Sally Potter.”If you had tried to predict what Ms. Potter would do after “Orlando” won awards around the world, you would probably have pictured a run of glossy, prestigious, Oscar-bait movies, à la Anthony Minghella and Lasse Hallstrom. Philip French, a former critic for the British newspaper The Observer, even suggested that she should make a Harry Potter film, although that might have been because he couldn’t resist the wordplay. “I’d love to see what happened,” he wrote, “when Harry Potter met Sally Potter.”
The closest she came was “The Man Who Cried” (2000), starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. But she and her longtime producer (and husband), Christopher Sheppard, have tended toward smaller independent projects that experiment with wildly different techniques and genres. In 2004, there was “Yes,” in which Joan Allen and Simon Abkarian spoke in iambic pentameter. In 2009, there was “Rage,” starring Judi Dench and Jude Law, which was made to look as if it had been shot entirely on an iPhone.The closest she came was “The Man Who Cried” (2000), starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. But she and her longtime producer (and husband), Christopher Sheppard, have tended toward smaller independent projects that experiment with wildly different techniques and genres. In 2004, there was “Yes,” in which Joan Allen and Simon Abkarian spoke in iambic pentameter. In 2009, there was “Rage,” starring Judi Dench and Jude Law, which was made to look as if it had been shot entirely on an iPhone.
You can see why her production company is called Adventure Pictures. But Ms. Potter, the daughter of a singer and a poet, seemed relaxed about making unconventional, uncategorizable films. “Even a big American blockbuster made to a formula can fail abysmally,” she said. “There is no guarantee that a film will work, even when you go the safest possible route, and throw loads of money at it, so you may as well do what you’re interested in. And you may as well take risks to push forward the medium you love so much.”You can see why her production company is called Adventure Pictures. But Ms. Potter, the daughter of a singer and a poet, seemed relaxed about making unconventional, uncategorizable films. “Even a big American blockbuster made to a formula can fail abysmally,” she said. “There is no guarantee that a film will work, even when you go the safest possible route, and throw loads of money at it, so you may as well do what you’re interested in. And you may as well take risks to push forward the medium you love so much.”
“The Party” is another example of such risk-taking. “I thought it would be really interesting to make something that used its constraints as a way of going deeper into the characters and their beliefs,” Ms. Potter said. “To set it in one place, with no location shooting, no special effects, no car chases, none of the expensive stuff of which there is more and more, cinematically.”“The Party” is another example of such risk-taking. “I thought it would be really interesting to make something that used its constraints as a way of going deeper into the characters and their beliefs,” Ms. Potter said. “To set it in one place, with no location shooting, no special effects, no car chases, none of the expensive stuff of which there is more and more, cinematically.”
She added that she wanted to create “cinema without waste, but to make the arc of change for the characters as large as possible. Everything was about a minimalist approach, for maximal satisfaction. But I had no idea whether it would work.”She added that she wanted to create “cinema without waste, but to make the arc of change for the characters as large as possible. Everything was about a minimalist approach, for maximal satisfaction. But I had no idea whether it would work.”
She had “the most fun” shooting “The Party,” largely because of its international cast and crew. “My key collaborators behind the camera,” she said, “were a Russian director of photography, an Argentinian designer living in Paris, a French sound-recording team, an Irish lighting team, an Indian co-producer, a Danish editor — the list goes on.”She had “the most fun” shooting “The Party,” largely because of its international cast and crew. “My key collaborators behind the camera,” she said, “were a Russian director of photography, an Argentinian designer living in Paris, a French sound-recording team, an Irish lighting team, an Indian co-producer, a Danish editor — the list goes on.”
The mix was “incredibly good for everybody,” she said. “Nobody can settle into one habitual way of doing things. Everybody is learning, everybody is kept on their toes. I think, also, that it makes people very hopeful. People feel that this is the way the world should be.”The mix was “incredibly good for everybody,” she said. “Nobody can settle into one habitual way of doing things. Everybody is learning, everybody is kept on their toes. I think, also, that it makes people very hopeful. People feel that this is the way the world should be.”
Given her enthusiasm for global collaboration, it is bitterly paradoxical that while she was making “The Party” with her multicultural crew, the result of the Brexit referendum was announced — exactly halfway through the two-week shoot. “People were crying,” she remembered. “They turned up to the set crying, because they didn’t know if they would be allowed to stay in the country. And for the British, there was a horrible feeling that this honorable way of being — the art of being a welcoming host, of setting a place at the table — was in danger.”Given her enthusiasm for global collaboration, it is bitterly paradoxical that while she was making “The Party” with her multicultural crew, the result of the Brexit referendum was announced — exactly halfway through the two-week shoot. “People were crying,” she remembered. “They turned up to the set crying, because they didn’t know if they would be allowed to stay in the country. And for the British, there was a horrible feeling that this honorable way of being — the art of being a welcoming host, of setting a place at the table — was in danger.”
The shoot itself, however, was “the opposite of Brexit,” Ms. Potter said. “Brexit is about defensiveness and divisiveness, in terms of that knife coming down, cutting everybody in two. What we were doing was contrary to that, because we were cooperating to make something that would take everybody and everything forward.”The shoot itself, however, was “the opposite of Brexit,” Ms. Potter said. “Brexit is about defensiveness and divisiveness, in terms of that knife coming down, cutting everybody in two. What we were doing was contrary to that, because we were cooperating to make something that would take everybody and everything forward.”