Peter's Friends

• Kenneth Branagh: Andrew Benson
• Stephen Fry: Peter Morton
• Emma Thompson: Maggie Chester
• Alphonsia Emmanuel: Sarah Johnson
• Hugh Laurie: Roger Charleston
• Imelda Staunton: Mary Charleston
• Rita Rudner: Carol Benson
• Tony Slattery: Brian
• Phyllida Law: Vera
• Richard Briers: Lord Morton

Peter 's Friends ( Alternative title: Peter 's Friends - Friends are the best enemies ) is a British film directed by Kenneth Branagh in 1992 and written by Rita Rudner and her husband Martin Bergman. Kenneth Branagh was also producer and took over the role of Andrew Benson.

Action

On New Year's weekend Peter's friends gather in his recently inherited estate. Ten years ago they all went on together in a comedy troupe at Cambridge University, then went their ways apart. Andrew was a screenwriter in Hollywood and married the sitcom actress Carol, he brings to the meeting of friends. Roger and Mary were married and working successfully as a jingle writer. The attractive costume designer Sarah brings with her ​​new boyfriend Brian. The eccentric Maggie, who works in the publishing business, it pours. The two " outsiders" of the meeting, Carol and the somewhat boorish Brian, form a strong contrast to the Cambridge graduates.

After the death of his father, Peter does not know what to do with the inherited house. It carries up to last around his HIV -positive findings with you until he finally told shortly after midnight on New Year's Day his friends the truth. The housekeeper Vera is both Peter and his friends over cautious or hostile, but reacts to the news of Peter's HIV infection with a friendly gesture and moral support. The lonely Maggie wants to convince them that he should marry Peter. Carol comforts her and tries to supplement their outward appearance. The "new" Maggie seduces the seventeen -year-old Paul, Vera's son.

Andrew and Carol are anonymous alcoholic, her three -year marriage is in crisis. Carol is traveling alone from a short film offer, which prompted Andrew to resort again to the alcohol. Sarah's friend Brian has left his wife, but to revise its decision - also because of Sarah's dismissive response - and is picked up by his wife. Roger and Mary handle a personal tragedy to endanger the death of one of her twins, which starts due to an irrational fear of Mary to the surviving twin their marriage. However, they find each other again.

Background

A majority of the performers were actually fellow students, who together attended the University of Cambridge. Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery and were members of the Cambridge Footlights, a student comedy troupe, similar to that which is portrayed in the film. Martin Bergman, screenwriter and husband of actress and screenwriter Rita Rudner, was also a member of the Footlights. Rita Rudners delivered, together with Martin Bergman, with Peter 's Friends her first screenplay.

When the film was produced, Kenneth Branagh was married to Emma Thompson, who had a relationship with Hugh Laurie at the university. Phyllida Law is the mother of Emma Thompson.

Phyllida Law, Richard Briers ( in Peter 's Friends a cameo as Peter's father ), Imelda Staunton and Alex Lowe played the following year with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson in Branagh's Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing. Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton played in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility based on a screenplay by Emma Thompson again a married couple. Hugh Laurie also appeared with Stephen Fry in many television shows, especially in A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster.

Reviews

Desson Howe likened Peter 's Friends in the Washington Post of 25 December 1992 The Big Chill. The film had elements of romantic comedies of Shakespeare, the French farce and American sitcoms, but act the character development " contrived ". The soundtrack WOULD " thrown together to appeal to as many viewers ." He praised the performance by Emma Thompson, who despite a one-dimensional figure pour out grace and a keen sense of tragicomedy show.

According to the Encyclopedia of the International film Peter 's Friends an " excellent film about friendship and love, laced with subtle humor, which still mitigates the galligsten scenes. " To " intellectual cinema pleasure " deceptive " excellent performer and an excellent book " at.

Awards

1993 Emma Thompson was honored with the award of the Evening Standard British Film Awards for Best Actress. The film was awarded the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy and received in 1994 as Best European film nominated for the Goya.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack contains many artists of the 1980s, including Tears for Fears ( the song Everybody Wants to Rule the World is heard in the opening credits), The Pretenders and Bruce Springsteen. The soundtrack, however, is not listed in the movie rendition of the classic The Way You Look Tonight by Jerome Kern included.