Wish You Were Here is a 1987 British comedy-drama film starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell. It was written and directed by David Leland. The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers. The story is loosely based on the formative years of Cynthia Payne.
Wish You Were Here | |
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US Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | David Leland |
Produced by | Sarah Radclyffe |
Written by | David Leland |
Starring |
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Music by | Stanley Myers |
Cinematography | Ian Wilson |
Edited by | George Akers |
Distributed by | Atlantic Releasing Corp |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | ?1.2 million |
Screenplay
Sixteen-year-old Lynda Mansell lives in a small English seaside town in the early 1950s. She is feisty, outspoken and precocious and tries to shock other people with her histrionic behaviour and vulgar tongue (her favourite insult is "Up yer bum"). Bored with conventional jobs (which she frequently loses) and her town's dull young men, Lynda has her first sexual experience with Dave but after she has slept with one of her father's middle-aged friends, her life changes. She becomes pregnant and her father, a somewhat rigid and conventional man, disowns her. Desperately she tries to seek an illegal abortion but in the end decides to become a mother.
- Emily Lloyd as Lynda Mansell
- Charlotte Ball as Lynda (aged 11)
- Tom Bell as Eric
- Jesse Birdsall as Dave
- Clare Clifford as Mrs. Parfitt
- Barbara Durkin as Valerie
- Geoffrey Hutchings as Hubert Mansell
- Charlotte Barker as Gillian
- Chloë Leland as Margaret
- Abigail Leland as Margaret (aged 7)
- Pat Heywood as Aunt Millie
- Geoffrey Durham as Harry Figgis
- Neville Smith as Cinema manager
- Heathcote Williams as Dr. Holroyd
- Val McLane as Maisie Mathews
- Susan Skipper as Lynda's Mother
- Lee Whitlock as Brian
- Sheila Kelley as Joan Figgis
The film was based loosely on the memoirs of the British madam Cynthia Payne as an adolescent growing up on the Sussex coast. It was filmed in the Sussex towns of Brighton, Worthing and Bognor Regis.
Wish You Were Here has an overall approval rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews.
- 1987: Evening Standard British Film Awards Emily Lloyd for Best Actress
- 1987: National Society of Film Critics Emily Lloyd for Best Actress
- 1988: BAFTA Award David Leland for Best Screenplay
- 1988: BAFTA Award Nomination Best Actress
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