A perfect adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's trio of novels, published between 1929 and 1934, by the late playwright Kevin Elyot and directed by Simon Curtis.
In the early 1930s, Bob and Ella are co-workers in The Midnight Bell pub in Euston. Their easy friendship hides Ella's unrequited love for him, made worse by them being in adjacent rooms above the pub.
One night Bob starts chatting to young prostitute Jenny in the bar; when she goes to leave to work for her rent money, he gives her the cash if she promises to meet the next day.
Jenny doesn't appear but Bob later tracks her down in Soho; she acts contrite and soon they start an unbalanced relationship with Bob giving her cash from his diminishing savings and Jenny occasionally showing up, sometimes loving, sometimes dismissive.
Meanwhile Ella finds herself pursued by pub customer Ernest Eccles, a patronising bore.
Shelf or charity shop? A definite keeper thanks to the spot-on 1930s design - although the sepia, drained-colour cinematography makes you pine for just one single primary colour - Kevin Elyot's marvellous adaptation, Simon Curtis' nuanced direction, and the painfully sad performances of Bryan Dick as Bob, Sally Hawkins as Ella and Zoe Tapper as Jenny. The wonderfully chosen supporting cast, lead by Phil Davis as the emotional bully Ernest Eccles, include Marcia Warren, Doreen Mantle, Tony Haygarth, Susan Wooldridge, Ruth Sheen, Neil Stuke and Geoffrey Streatfeild. All the more special too when I remember that it was filmed outside Flashbacks, the shop I used to work in, one weekend!
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