The Party
Janet has just been appointed minister in the shadow cabinet – the crowning achievement of her political career. She and her husband Bill plan to celebrate this with a few close friends. The guests arrive at their home in London but the party takes an unexpected turn for the worse when Bill suddenly makes two explosive revelations that shock Janet and everyone present to the core. Love, friendships, political convictions and a whole way of life are now called into question. Underneath their cultivated liberal left-wing surface people are seething. Their dispute leads to the big guns being brought out – even in a literal sense.
For her eighth theatrical feature British director and screenwriter Sally Potter, who last took part in the Berlinale Competition with Rage in 2009, has invited a stellar cast to join her party. Beginning as a subtly witty comedy replete with sharp-tongued dialogue, the film later veers off into tragedy. When life can no longer be controlled by reason, people will fight tooth and nail to protect their seemingly stable existence.
BIOGRAPHY Sally Potter
Born in London, UK in 1949, she made her first 8mm film when she was 14, followed by short experimental films. Since 1969 she has also worked as a performance artist, choreographer, dancer and musician. Her international breakthrough as a film director came in 1992 with her Oscar®-nominated adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel 'Orlando'. In 2007 she directed 'Carmen' at the English National Opera. Her films The Gold Diggers (1983), The London Story (1986), Yes (2004) and Rage (2009) have all screened at the Berlinale.
FILMOGRAPHY
1969 Jerk; short film 1970 Play; short film 1971 Hors d’oeuvres; short film 1979 Thriller 1983 The Gold Diggers 1986The London Story; short film 1987 Tears, Laughter, Fears and Rage; TV series 1988 I Am an Ox, I Am a Horse, I Am a Man, I Am a Woman; documentary 1992 Orlando 1996 The Tango Lesson (Tango-Fieber) 2000 The Man Who Cried (In stürmischen Zeiten) 2004 Yes 2009 Rage 2012 Ginger & Rosa2017 The Party
details
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Runtime
71 min -
Country
Great Britain -
Year of Presentation
2017 -
Year of Production
2017 -
Director
Sally Potter -
Cast
Patricia Clarkson, Cherry Jones, Bruno Ganz, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emily Mortimer, Timothy Spall -
Production Company
Adventure Pictures -
Berlinale Section
Competition -
Berlinale Category
Feature Film
pictures from the movie
Biography Sally Potter
Sally Potter made her first 8mm film aged fourteen. She has since written and directed seven feature films, as well as many short films (including THRILLER and PLAY) and a television series, and has directed opera (Carmen for the ENO in 2007) and other live work. Her background is in choreography, music, performance art and experimental film. ORLANDO (1992), Sally Potter's bold adaptation of Virginia Woolf's classic novel, first brought her work to a wider audience. It was followed by THE TANGO LESSON (1996), THE MAN WHO CRIED (2000), YES (2004), RAGE (2009) and GINGER & ROSA (2012).
Sally Potter is known for innovative form and risk-taking subject matter and has worked with many of the most notable cinema actors of our time. Sally Potter's films have won over forty international awards and received both Academy Award and BAFTA nominations. She has had full career retrospectives of her film and video work at the BFI Southbank, London, MoMA, New York, and the Cinematheque, Madrid. She was awarded an OBE in 2012. Her book Naked Cinema - Working with Actors was published by Faber & Faber in March, 2014. Sally Potter co-founded her production company Adventure Pictures with producer Christopher Sheppard.
-IMDb