Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

My Beautiful Laundrette
Directed by Stephen Frears
MGM Home Entertainment 07/85 DVD/VHS Feature Film
R - adult situations

This excellent British film was directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Pakistani writer Hanif Kureishi. It offers a grim portrait of societal disintegration during the 1980s in Great Britain, a country rife with racial tensions and a thriving underground economy.

Among the interesting characters are Omar, a young Pakistani who turns to business instead of education to get ahead; Nasser, his rich wheeler-dealer uncle who stakes him as an entrepreneur; Johnny, Omar’s homosexual lover who must choose between him and the friendship of his fascist punk comrades; Tania, Nasser’s promiscuous daughter; and Rachel, Nasser’s middle-aged mistress. The superb performances by the cast, which includes Saeed Jaffrey, Gordon Warnecke, Shirley Anne Field, and Daniel Day Lewis, add clout to this provocative film.

Films Now Showing
Recent VHS/DVD Releases

Reviews and database copyright © 1970 – 2012
by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat