Naked (film)

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Naked

Criterion Collection DVD cover for Naked
Directed by Mike Leigh
Produced by Simon Channing-Williams
Written by Mike Leigh
Starring David Thewlis
Lesley Sharp
Katrin Cartlidge
Music by Andrew Dickson
Cinematography Dick Pope
Editing by Jon Gregory
Distributed by Fine Line Features
Release date(s) 1993
Running time 131 min.
Country U.K.
Language English
Gross revenue $1,769,305 (USA)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
For other uses of naked(ness), see Naked (disambiguation)

Naked (1993) is a British film directed by Mike Leigh.

Before this film, Leigh was known for more-low-key, subtler comedic dissections of middle-class and working-class manners. Naked was more stark and brutal than his previous works. Leigh relied heavily on improvisation in the making of the movie, but little actual ad-libbing was filmed; lengthy rehearsals in character provided much of the script. Almost all of the dialogue was filmed as written.

Contents

[edit] Plot

After raping an unidentified woman in an alley in Manchester, Johnny (David Thewlis) steals a car and flees his hometown for London to seek refuge with his former girlfriend, Louise (Lesley Sharp).

An intelligent, educated and eloquent, if disturbingly embittered man, Johnny consistently keeps up with a reckless and at times borderline sadistic behaviour; he seduces her flatmate, Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge), before embarking on an extended latter-day odyssey among the destitute and despairing of the United Kingdom's capital city. Towards the end of the film, he also attempts to seduce Louise and Sophie's flatmate Sandra (Claire Skinner) when she returns from a holiday in Africa, to no avail.

During his encounters in London's seedy underbelly, Johnny expounds his world-view (which in different instances seems to be fatalist, nihilist or transhumanist) at long and lyrical length to anyone who will listen, whilst the sinister presence of his ex-girlfriend's psychopathic landlord, Jeremy (Greg Cruttwell), lurks in the background. Johnny eventually suffers horribly at the hands of thugs in the most casual manner; and, when the true owner of the flat returns from a trip overseas, Johnny is compelled to leave, to throw himself back into the world as he has ostensibly done so many times before.

It is subtly hinted at, throughout the movie, that Johnny's unusual personality and behaviour could be the result of a variety of (presumably undiagnosed and untreated) medical conditions, including manic depression, and whatever it is that causes him to experience episodic, severe headaches. These conditions are certainly affecting him physically; one of the characters he meets thinks he's about 40 years old, when he's actually only 27.

[edit] Main cast


[edit] Awards and nominations


[edit] External links

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[edit] Further reading

  • Ali Catterall and Simon Wells, Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since The Sixties (Fourth Estate, 2001) ISBN 0-00-714554-3