Wish You Were Here

Like most of the above reviewers say, this movie is a good film for a laugh and plenty of outrageous behaviour from the protagonist, Lynda. A terrific reproduction of 50s Britain - right down to the dressing gown patterns and minor consumer products. But what is it she really wants and what does she learn from her foolish behaviour? 'Nothing' seems to be the answer. And this 'nothing' seems to be the major theme. It is a film about folly.

In many ways Lynda's path is boringly predictable: She has no understanding of the man who manipulates her, nor of the future consequences of her rudeness and impulsive behaviour. One wonders what amount of social realism is represented here for an unmarried mother of the period. Poorly paid jobs, lack of support, a low income to further disable somebody with little patience and understanding of the situation she has largely created for herself. A fun attitude, temporary prettiness and her fast-disappearing youth will not go that far.

With another actress in the lead, this film could have been another entry in the long, venerable line of British films about the misery of working-class life, a genre that stretches from "kitchen sink" classics like "Room at the Top" and "A Taste of Honey" (wonderfully ironic titles, of course) to such Mike Leigh bleakfests as "Meantime" and "All or Nothing." However, this film stars Emily Lloyd. Her character of Lynda seems written as a fragile, wounded creature driven to extreme behavior by emotional neglect (her mother died when she was young and her father is a stern, distant dope) and a rigid, oppressive social hierarchy (she suffers after being used and abandoned by a series of heartless men who are either older or wealthier than herself). As played by Emily Lloyd, however, Lynda is a joyful nymphomaniac who delights in offending people, kind of a "Happy Hooker Goes to Liverpool." Her outrageous behavior seems less a symptom of willful self-destructiveness than an animating demon impulse. In her dalliances with men, she seems to be seeking sexual satisfaction ("it's very nice, but is that all there is?") instead of love and security. Which makes her a distinctly post-feminist heroine out of "Sex and the City" instead of a victim of injustice out of a Theodore Dreiser novel. Which makes her completely out of sync with the rest of this gray, deterministic film. It doesn't help that Emily Lloyd, at least here, is so beautiful that she's literally luminous -- she seems to glow with a light that isn't shining on anything else in the film. Plus she's so vital and boisterous that we don't believe the circumstances which should be destroying her would even slow her down all that much. The key scene, which will either delight or disgust you, comes midway through the movie when lovely young Lynda takes a midnight stroll in her garden and ends up gamboling about, waking the neighbors (neighbours?) by screaming "up your BUUUUUUUUMMMMM!" at the top of her lungs. Is she a wounded soul begging for love and tolerance? A free spirit kicking against the pricks? A brat who needs to be spanked? Your answer to this question will determine your view of "Wish You Were Here."

Wish You Were Here is a delightful, moving and exceptional film for many reasons, but the most unusual is that it is one of two films written by David Leland (Mona Lisa) about a real person, the famous British madame, Cynthia Payne, which were both released in the same year--1987. (Both films claim to be fiction) Wish chronicles her youthful scandals; the other film,Terry Jones', Personal Services (1987) chronicles her adult scandals.

The two films are very different in style (this film being the more conventional of the two) but the character of Payne remains refreshingly the same. In Wish You Were Here the desperate pleading of a lonely young girl for love and affection takes a bizarre path helped by her rebellious and outspoken candid observations. It is her impatience with hypocrisy coupled with her desperate need that make this teenager so sympathetic. That, and her great sense of humor.

The colorful sex scenes filled with surprises keep the viewer disarmed, but mainly it is the main character's shining virtues of honesty, non-conformity, and defiance that makes this film a special one for young people. The scene with the therapist, matching dirty words, is one of the funniest on film, especially watching the marvelous way Emily Lloyd molds her reactions and then goes in for the kill. Emily Lloyd's career never lived up to this early brilliant performance, but her work here is so dazzling, it gives her a place in film history. Highly recommended for all teenagers who feel out of place and for adults who do, too.

Why hasn't this film moved to DVD? (only in England and Germany!) It's a rare find, and you may be both surprised and delighted!.

In my country this film did not reach the cinema theaters. I saw it back in 1989 in a small room (100 seats or less) of a private university's Cine Club.

It was a beautiful surprise. I was not expecting such a good film with dark drama and comic moments at one time. And the end is so relaxing after so much trouble... The best to me is the natural way Emily Lloyd acts, whom I try to follow after I saw this film.

In my opinion, she is underrated and not present in many films. Alas! Such a waste of talent and expressiveness.

David Leland's companion piece to 'Personal Services' (also 1987) is another dramatized fiction suggested by the life of Cynthia Payne (London's notorious 'Luncheon Voucher Madam'), only here the canvas is smaller and the film, as a result, is less effective. A 'prequel' to the earlier feature, it relives the rebellious teenage years of the sassy young Ms. Payne (the names have again been changed) as she flies in the face of her stodgy English upbringing with a rousing rejoinder of "up yer bum!" Growing up too fast in a very slow corner of the Empire, she struggles through that awkward age when her cynicism about sex hasn't caught up with her curiosity about it, leading to a good deal of engaging if familiar adolescent angst, reinforced by a bland seaside setting viewed through nostalgia. The film succeeds mostly on the charm of young Emily Lloyd, portraying a character who can't decide if hers is a child's mind in an adult's body, or the other way around. Boredom motivates her rude behavior, and it's a pity the film itself didn't follow her good example. After making its point (and making it well), the story can't help losing a little momentum.