Butley (Alan Bates) is a literature professor at Queen Mary’s College, London. Once a respected scholar of T.S. Eliot, he now spends his time obsessing over nursery rhymes and Beatrix Potter. The film unfolds almost entirely in Butley’s office, which is shared with his assistant and former student Joey (Richard O’Callaghan). Joey is also his current lover. On this day, he finds out that his estranged wife is remarrying and that Joey is leaving him for another man, Reg (Michael Byrne).
Adapted by Simon Gray from his stage play and directed by Harold Pinter, the film is a testament to Alan Bates, who, having originated the role on stage, delivers a tour-de-force performance that is simultaneously witty, pathetic, and tragic. As a record of academic and personal disintegration, this is the one you keep referring back to again and again.
That said, the movie is basically a filmed play, and it, perhaps wisely, does not attempt to disguise its origins. However, it is also a milestone in Queer Cinema, presenting us with gay characters who are unapologetically themselves.
With Jessica Tandy as Edna.
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