Film Review
Amidst the wave of social realist dramas that crashed onto Britain's
cinema screens in the late 1950s, early 1960s,
A Taste of Honey stands out as
being one of the most forthright and humane. A groundbreaking
piece of social commentary, its setting and themes are every bit and
grim as those of any other kitchen sink drama, but it has a lightness
and sweetly sour lyricism that sets it apart from other films of its
ilk. Tony Richardson's screen version of the stage play he had
previously directed has the quality of a warped fairytale about it and
implies that amidst the desperate struggle to survive in Britain's
industrial heartlands there is always hope, that life always has
something to sweet to offer. It is a much gentler form
of social realism than Richardson serves up in
Look Back in Anger (1958) and
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962).
It is hard to believe that Shelagh Delaney was just 18 when she wrote
the play, her first, on which the film is closely based (and she
apparently did so in just ten days). With its richly drawn
characters and compelling narrative,
A
Taste of Honey offers a slice of life in the northern industrial
wastelands that is blisteringly authentic and brimming with
charm. Today, it is hard to imagine how shocking the play and its
film adaptation were when they were first seen. Single mums and
homosexuals were stigmatised, both considered the worst kind of social
pariah, and at a time when racism was rife in every stratum of Britsh
society, mixed-race relationships were unthinkable. In her
brazenly modern play, Delaney confronts each of these taboos head-on
but does so with extraordinary compassion and sensitivity. She
does not set out to shock, merely to make us aware of the futility of
such idiotic prejudices.
An exceptionally talented cast allows Richardson to get the most out of
Delaney's witty and insightful script. Making her screen debut at
the age of 19, Rita Tushingham is superb in the role of the
contradictory teenager Jo - a flawed but likeable heroine whose
dramatic highs and lows are keenly felt by the spectator. The
only member of the cast of the original stage play to reprise his role
in the film, Murray Melvin gives an equally truthful and nuanced
performance as Geoffrey, impressing with what is probably the first
sympathetic and convincing portrayal of a young gay man in a British
film. The triumvirate of principals is completed by Dora Bryan, a
much-loved character actress, best known for her comedy roles on both
the big and small screen. As Jo's irresponsible mother, Bryan
quickly establishes herself as the villain of the piece, but gradually
we warm to her and see there is a more human side to her
character. Helen's attempts to help Jo may be tragically
misguided but they stem from a genuine maternal instinct, a desire to
protect the only person she feels any attachment to.
A Taste of Honey has some
connection with Tony Richardson's earlier class-conscious excursion
into social realism,
Look Back in
Anger (1958), but it is strikingly different in tone and far
more provocative in the issues it touches on. The Salford setting
anchors the film in the grimmest of realities, the skyline dominated by
the soulless hulks of water towers and gasometers in a way that evokes
Italian neo-realism. The streets, filmed with an aching sense of
desolation, swarm with ragamuffin children who are still blissfully
ignorant of the squalor and deprivation they have been born into.
To become a single parent without family support was just about the
worse fate that could befall a teenage girl in the early1960s, and the
film never lets us forget the psychological distress and physical
hardship that its heroine Jo must endure as payment for her one brief
'taste of honey'.
Yet despite all the contextual doom and gloom, a hangover from post-war
austerity that shows no sign of abating, Richardson's film is far from
depressing. There is plenty of humour to be found amidst the
on-going battle against adversity, and it is this that gives the film its warmth and
humanity. The relationship between Jo and her mother may be
antagonistic but there is a mutual tenderness beneath the vicious
carping, and there is something inestimably beautiful about Jo's
cautious friendship with her gay flatmate Geoffrey, a touch of
old-fashioned fairytale which makes the film's ending all the more
cruel and poignant. Even though
A
Taste of Honey concludes on a note of bitter realism it is not
despair but hope that we feel as the now friendless Jo accepts her
present predicament, lighting a sparkler that is perhaps symbolic of a
brighter future.
© James Travers 2014
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Film Synopsis
Jo is a 17-year-old schoolgirl who lives with her alcoholic mother,
Helen, in the industrial northwest English town of Salford. When
Helen starts going out with a younger man, Peter, the already strained
relationship between mother and daughter deteriorates further. Jo
befriends a young black sailor, Jimmy, and for the first time in her
life she feels wanted. The love affair is brief and ends when
Jimmy returns to his ship. By now, Helen has made up her mind to
marry Peter, and since Peter will have nothing to do with her Jo must
find a flat of her own. To pay her way, Jo finds work as an
assistant in a shoe shop, and this is how she meets Geoffrey, a timid
textile student. Even though she sees at once that Geoffrey is
gay, Jo takes a liking to him and they end up living together in Jo's
flat. When Jo discovers she is pregnant with Jimmy's child,
Geoffrey quickly assumes the role of a surrogate husband and even
offers to marry her. For Jo, the prospect of motherhood is a
daunting one, and matters are made worse when Helen suddenly shows up
with her suitcase...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.