Peter’s Friends (1992) - 83%
A touching and very English ‘buddy movie’, playing on the depths of chemistry already available amongst a cast comprising four of the enduring Cambridge Footlights Revue, The Cellar Tapes - Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Tony Slattery; not to mention stand-out performances from writer/directors Kenneth Branagh and Rita Rudner. And Imelda Staunton. So stellar performances all round then, producing a fine display of easy rapport, affable humour and hard-hitting drama.
Ten years after graduating from university and going their separate ways, Peter (Fry) decides to invite all his old friends to his vast country home to bring in the new year, 1992. In the interim each has made their own strides in life, but upon the reunion all are effortlessly reigned back into their old selves, perhaps their true selves. As Branagh’s character says, there are no such thing as adults; just children who owe money. From desperate alcoholism to promiscuity to reserved unimpeachability, each has carried with them their own foibles and definining characteristics, complete with the buffeting of growing up in the real world. With it comes misery and toil as much as love and friendship and success.
To see this group of dear friends reminisce and catch-up is much like bumping into someone you haven’t seen for years, but with whom conversation knows no struggle nor effort. It’s the reason why, after the first time I saw the film I would find myself re-watching it at least every month. It’s the same reason we listen to the same podcasts or audiobooks over and over, the same reason we watch the same TV shows over and over: we build such a connection with the characters and the settings it is like going home. This film is much like that. The witty banter and the understanding between characters (and actors) is such that this film could go on for much longer than is normally acceptable. In much the same way that we are happy to watch a good TV series for upwards of 20 hours (perhaps not in one sitting) because we enjoy simply watching characters we like; Peter’s Friends emits a similar sense of warmth and friendship which cannot fail to endear and ensnare.
That is not to say that the film is without drama or complicated romance however. There are questions of faithfulness, sexuality, gratitude and sentimentality to compete with here after all, and much else besides. With a cast consisting almost entirely of comic actors, is this a feat suitably achieved? It’s hard to imagine a time when Stephen’s acting credentials were less than assured, but pre-Peter’s Friends this was the case, from a dramatic point of view at least. Needless to say however, he shoulders the burden of emotional expression admirably and his great depths of sincerity and kindness knit the group together majestically.
I would recommend this film to those who are particular fans of the great class of Cambridge ‘81, but also to anyone interested in friendship, love and the difficulties of finishing university and looking beyond that “black hole” stage which inevitably follows. I know there’s a lot of you out there. So watch the film.
83%
