Look Back in Anger (1959)

☆ ☆ ☆

Look Back in Anger (1959) – T. Richardson

The first of the British “Kitchen Sink” Realism pictures (from director Tony Richardson) aims to take an unvarnished look at contemporary working class life. Richard Burton plays Jimmy Porter, an angry young man with a strong animosity toward the middle class bourgeoisie who is nevertheless married to a young woman from that class. We learn that he has a university education but he isn’t using it – instead he is working at the local market selling sweets from a stall.  Jimmy is hard to understand – he is nasty to everyone, particularly his wife Alison (Mary Ure) and her friend Helena (Claire Bloom).  He is chummy with his friend Cliff (Gary Raymond) who lives with the couple and he adores his former landlady “Ma” Tanner (Dame Edith Evans) who is earthy and working class.  But I can’t understand the man and his resentments – he just comes across like a prick.  Some have argued that Burton (at age 34) was too old for the part and perhaps he lacks the immaturity that is necessary to convince an audience that his generalised hostility is borne from youthful wilfulness and resistance rather than just dickishness.  If he wants to fight “the man” and fight for the working class, he isn’t going about it the right way. I guess we are meant to see him as frustrated. But then the plot has him inexplicably have an affair with the once hated friend and then eventually return to his wife (but why she returns to him is hard to fathom).  He’s mixed up, I’m mixed up.  (The original play may make more sense).  If you are looking for kitchen sink films, I’d recommend Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), A Taste of Honey (1961), or The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962; also by Richardson), all better than this one (which nevertheless looks pretty good in moody B&W and has some nice jazz interludes).