The Rachel Papers [1989] [VHS]

very well acted, you find yourself wishing them both together, its great fun, one of the best growing up love movies around. a movie you can watch more than once. wish it was on DVD, im wearing out my vhs copy

This film is better than I remembered it. It's quite funny. Jonathan Pryce (Norman) is very amusing.

It has the advantage of not being formulaic. Perhaps its being British helped it to avoid a cheesy ending being tacked on at the last minute. However, perhaps because it is based on a novel from the 1970s, it is not what I would think of a typical "1980s British film". Oh, the hair and the music are quite 1980s, and it is definitely set in the past. It dates to the era when one could, like Charles (Dexter Fletcher) and Rachel (Ione Skye) go to an art gallery and see a TIDY bed.

The sense of place is more distinct than the sense of time. Our protagonist could almost be a younger relative of Hugh Grant's character in "4 Weddings": both charming Englishmen fixated on indecisive dark-haired Americans. They might even have been named after the same eccentric Great Uncle Charles!

The script is witty: the young lovers have sex in the bath, yet Rachel's sense of personal hygiene leaves a little to be desired. However, there are slightly annoying details, such as the reference to "the day" of Charles's exams. What, just one day? Oxbridge entrance exams definitely take place over several days, if memory serves. Michael Gambon's character, whose take on Charles's pretentions is very welcome, lists more papers than even the most sadistic establishment would expect a chap to sit without a good night's sleep between the first and the last.

Worse, the script leaves plenty of loose ends. Is Jenny (Lesley Sharp) yelling at her husband Norman because of the baby she is expecting or because of events relating to a previous pregnancy? We learn very little about Jenny or what attracted her to Norman. Nor do we learn much about Charles's parents, or Rachel's mother.

Actually, we don't learn that much about Charles or Rachel, and they're the central characters! Why does Charles want Rachel so much? Is it just because of her (admittedly stunning) looks? What does Rachel see in Charles, or in his rival Deforest (James Spader)?

I have a favourite scene. It lasts 20 seconds, just after the computer animated chess figures, about 50 minutes after the start if you're watching this on tape. Rachel is sitting on a sofa, wearing a long dress. Her head is tilted back. Deforest is kneeling at her feet, head and upper body under Rachel's dress. She turns to stare defiantly at the camera and taps gently on Deforest's head through her dress. He emerges, smiles broadly and beckons to the camera.

It's this invitation to the viewers that makes it unexpected, and rather kinky.

There is one very striking image: Charles looking through a porthole type window, looking lost without Rachel.

This would be a two star film, but I'm adding half a point for mentioning contraception and half a point for the kinky sequence. I cannot really give it more than three stars as large chunks of the film just do not interest me.

Special mention must go to the set decorators, who must have had a lot of fun with Charles's changing decor. If only that amount of effort had gone into making the script gel and developing the minor characters.

I have 2 favourite accessories: the scooter with the umbrella and the weird cocktail that Charles is served just after Rachel stands him up. The latter looks like a gigantic yellow fungus in a bowl, malevolently giving off dry ice fumes.