My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Director:

Stephen Frears

Writer:

Hanif Kureishi (written by)

Release Date:

April 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

An ambitious Asian Briton and his white lover strive for success and hope, when they open up a glamorous laundromat.

Plot Keywords:

Sexuality | Violence | Bigotry | Intentionally Misspelled Title | Politics

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Saeed Jaffrey	...	Nasser
Roshan Seth	...	Papa
Daniel Day-Lewis	...	Johnny (as Daniel Day Lewis)
Gordon Warnecke	...	Omar
Derrick Branche	...	Salim
Rita Wolf	...	Tania
Souad Faress	...	Cherry
Richard Graham	...	Genghis
Shirley Anne Field	...	Rachel
Winston Graham	...	Jamaican One
Charu Bala Chokshi	...	Bilquis (as Charu Bala Choksi)
Dudley Thomas	...	Jamaican Two
Garry Cooper	...	Squatter
Neil Cunningham	...	Englishman
Persis Maravala	...	Nasser's Elder Daughter
Walter Donohue	...	Dick O'Donnell
Nisha Kapur	...	Nasser's Younger Daughter
Stephen Marcus	...	Moose
Badi Uzzaman	...	Dealer
Ayub Khan-Din	...	Student
Gurdial Sira	...	Zaki
Chris Pitt	...	Kid One
Dawn Archibald	...	Gang Member One
Kerryann White	...	Kid Two
Gerard Horan	...	Telephone Man
Jonathan Moore	...	Gang Member Two
Ram John Holder	...	Poet
Colin Campbell	...	Madame Butterfly Man
Bhasker Patel	...	Tariq
Dulice Liecier	...	Girl in Disco (as Dulice Leicier)
Sheila Chitnis	...	Zaki's Wife
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Persis Khambatta	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Stephen Frears

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hanif Kureishi		written by

Produced by
Tim Bevan	....	producer
Sarah Radclyffe	....	producer

Original Music by
Ludus Tonalis

Cinematography by
Oliver Stapleton

Film Editing by
Mick Audsley

Casting by
Debbie McWilliams

Production Design by
Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski		(as Hugo Luczyc Wyhowski)

Costume Design by
Lindy Hemming

Makeup Department
Elaine Carew	....	makeup artist
Wendy Rawson	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Jane Frazer	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gary Davies	....	third assistant director
Simon Hinkly	....	first assistant director
Waldo Roeg	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Mark Allett	....	stand-by props
Alison Dominitz	....	assistant art director
Alastair Gow	....	constructor
Raymond Perry	....	stand-by props (as Ray Perry Jr.)
Ray Perry Sr.	....	property master
Julian Rothenstein	....	graphic artist
Robin Thistlewaite	....	constructor
Jeanne Vertigan	....	production buyer

Sound Department
Albert Bailey	....	sound recordist
St. Clair Davis	....	boom operator
Peter Maxwell	....	dubbing mixer
'Budge' Tremlett	....	dubbing editor
Matthew Whiteman	....	assistant dubbing editor
Steve Hancock	....	sound camera operator (uncredited)

Stunts
Jim Dowdall	....	stunt coordinator
Tracey Eddon	....	stunts (as Tracey Eddons)
Wayne Michaels	....	stunts
Nosher Powell	....	stunt coordinator
Rocky Taylor	....	stunt coordinator
Tip Tipping	....	stunts
Bill Weston	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Fiona Cunningham-Reid	....	clapper loader
Malcolm Davies	....	gaffer
Martin Duncan	....	electrician
Tony Hare	....	electrician
Anthony James	....	camera trainee
Steve Keith-Roach	....	focus puller
Mike Laye	....	still photographer
Dave McWhinney	....	electrician (as Dave McWhinnie)
Jamie Monks	....	second camera grip
Jim Monks	....	camera grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Karen Sharpe	....	wardrobe mistress

Editorial Department
Jason Adams	....	first assistant editor
Chris Cook	....	second assistant editor

Music Department
Stanley Myers	....	music producer
Hans Zimmer	....	music producer

Transportation Department
Harry Vincent	....	driver: property

Other crew
Ronald Bailey	....	national film school attachment
Jo Brown	....	national film school attachment
Chris Bruce	....	unit runner (was: Bruce, Chris 20030812)
Abdul Chowdray	....	national film school attachment
Bill Craster	....	production accountant
Anuree De Silva	....	national film school attachment
Penny Eyles	....	continuity
Sam Garwood	....	production runner
Graime Marmion	....	assistant production accountant
Charlie McGrigor	....	unit runner
Rebecca O'Brien	....	location manager
Sarah O'Brien	....	production assistant
Andrew Young	....	projectionist

Production Companies

• Channel Four Films
• SAF Productions
• Working Title Films

Distributors

• Cineplex-Odeon Home Video (1986) (Canada) (VHS)
• Homescreen (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Karl-Lorimar Home Video (KLV-TV) (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Mainline Pictures (1985) (UK)
• Mundial Filmes (Brazil) (video)
• Orion Classics (1986) (USA)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (1986) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Video Collection International Ltd. (1999) (UK) (VHS)
• Virgin Video (1986) (UK) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Film Lighting Services  lighting equipment
• Frameline Productions Ltd.  titles
• Griptruck  camera equipment
• Technicolor  processing

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:M | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

245 Queenstown Road, Battersea, London, England, UK

Company:

Channel Four Films

Quotes:

Papa: You must be getting married. Why else would you be dressed like an undertaker on holiday?
Omar: Going to Uncle's house, Papa. He's given me a car.
Papa: What? The brakes must be faulty. Tell me one thing because there's something I don't understand, though it must be my fault. How is it that scrubbing cars can make a son of mine look so ecstatic?
Omar: It gets me out of the house.
Papa: Don't get too involved with that crook. You've got to study. We are under siege by the white man. For us education is power.
[Omar shakes his head at his father]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Do the Right Thing (1989)

My Beautiful Daniel Day Lewis!

It bugs me that this movie is the "gay" movie, just like it bugs me when a movie with black people is labeled the "black" movie. What about Mafia movies? Are those for people who are "involved"? What about "Seven" I guess that's a cult classic for serial killers. Come on, a good movie is a good movie. Trust me I identified with Omar - and I'm a straight hispanic girl - probably more than I have with any other character in a movie. This movie is about homosexuality like Charlotte Gray is about hair dye.

This movie is definitely one of my favorites. It is a look a young man (a gorgeous Pakistani named Omar) who basically tries to balance being Pakistani and British at the same time. He wants to have a business and be successful, in that Western capitalist way, and yet he wants to be good to his family and his father in that sense of family loyalty that only those of us from other cultures really understand. Omar asks his uncle to tell stories about his family in Pakistan, yet he doesn't understand his people's language - Urdu, I believe it is. This is a little insight for our white friends about what us "in-betweens" have to go through. Too ethnic for the white people, too white for our own people. It's nice to show the ethnic people looking down on the poor whites, because we do, we look down on low class white people, we have our snobbery too. It may not be right, but it's the truth. It's nice to show the sort of affectionate annoyance Omar found his Papa and Nasser for trying to help him. White people see that as overbearing, something to "escape" from (like Tania, who was the "whitest" of them all) Ethnic people have a sense of humor about it, because we know it means love, and like Omar most of us just choose to quietly listen and ignore their advice rather than make a scene. Omar never makes a scene.

That's what Johnny represents I think, the part of us we keep to ourselves, our passions and desire and those things that are too special to share, kind of like a spiritual belief. It makes their love seem almost sacred because it's too special for them to bring out and expose to the criticism of less enlightened people. It's worth noting that it's Johnny who kisses Omar semi-openly in the street, and it's Omar who doesn't tell his family why he can't marry Tania. I dont think it's so much homophobia as it a cultural difference as to what should be kept private. I could sort of see Johnny in the future demaning Omar tell his family.

Their love scene is gorgeous. When you first see Johnny he seems so rough and coarse and low class, but as he begins to seduce Omar while Omar talks about the past he suddenly seems powerful and sophisticated and . . . and just to see them getting it on on the table. It's very sweet and tender with the frantic kissing and the champange, but my god is it hot.

This certainly is a romantic (and more importantly) positive movie where two men are in love yet have a real conflict between them, and obviously gay men are right to love that, but hey, it works for informing white people, making minorities laugh, British people who grew up during that time, showing idiot homophobes that gay people are just the same as everyone else, DDL fans. Don't just slap the gay label on it and dismiss it!