Review of Dance With A Stranger

Introduction

Ruth Ellis, the last woman to swing at the dock in the UK was convicted of murdering her lover David Blakeley within less than a month of being put on trial. It took the jury only 23 minutes to reach their verdict and put the story to rest. Thankfully, this is not the story Mike Newell tells in the film ‘Dance With a Stranger’ which instead focuses on the turbulent affair between single mother waitress Ellis (Miranda Richardson) and ramshackle uppercrust Blakeley (Rupert Everett).

Video

A pretty dirty non-anamorphic transfer, which, while being a significant improvement from video, wreaks with averageness for the DVD format. Although, it must be said that this comes as little of a surprise considering the relative minority of this title.

Audio

A bit muddy at times, with dialogue and background noise occasionally fusing into incomprehensible blurbs. Subtitles help, but one way or another this isn’t exactly a diverse sonic palette.

Features

Unsurprisingly, it’s the dregs: a pretty dreadful theatrical trailer (which makes it painfully clear why no-one saw this movie), and a brief outline of Ellis’ trial and execution (brief as in very brief: 2 pages of written text).

Conclusion

Cast and crew may have gone onto bigger things: Newell went on to make ‘Four Weddings and A Funeral’ and helm Hollywood projects like ‘Donnie Brasco’ and ‘Pushing Tin’. Miranda Richardson has become a character actor staple on both sides of the Atlantic (after famously flirting with comedy in ‘Blackadder’), and Everett hangs around with Madonna. However, you’d be hard pressed to find a better film in any of their repertoires. The performances are excellent: Richardson is remarkable as the short-fused, foul-mouthed and frequently hysterical Ellis. Also impressive is Ian Holm, as Ellis’ long-suffering, conservative suitor Desmond Cussen, who is little more than a shadow who occasionally hangs around her crummy apartment. And if Everett isn’t completely convincing in conveying Blakeley’s cavalier sleaziness, he nails his casual cruelty and shameless snobbery. Everett manages to convey the almost impossible: contemptuousness combined with a befuddled insecurity.

A refreshingly crude and uncompromising portrayal of an obsessive love affair, drained of charm, compassion and sensitivity and left with only jealousy, bitterness, cold sex and random emotional sadism. As much as it is a love story (albeit one about as romantic as a firing squad), this is a subtle dissection of the repressive molds of post-war class conflict. Ellis’ decadent Monroe looks fail to disguise her brummy accent, dirty weekends and overt sexuality. Meanwhile Everett’s wannabe-aristo has all the laziness and social apathy of a hedonistic playboy but lacks the funds and self-discipline. There’s a visual contrast in the story too: the beauty myth seeking of Ellis and her contemporaries combined with the grim blandness of crumbling wallpaper, dirty sofas and smeared lighting. Although by no means even-handed (sympathy falls unashamedly on the side of Ellis), the film does attempt to off-set her impulsive desperation with Blakeley’s peer pressure to attach himself to a more acceptable mate.

Finally however, sympathy and emotion are snuffed out in a conclusion that mimics the coldness and draining rigidity of society at large: The murder of Blakeley is seen not as an explosion of rage or uncontrolled passion, but more of a vaguely childish last gasp of life from the fragile and rasping Ellis. Witty, bitter, incisive, and black as night, this is something of an underrated gem that is about as cheery as a rainy day, but highly recommended.