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Clip description
Bea (Victoria Longley) visits Marcus (Philip Sayer) hoping for a quiet, congenial evening but finds him ensconced with a woman called Muffet (Pat Bishop), whom she perceives to be an empty-headed socialite and drunk to boot. She tries to disconcert the cheerful Muffet with stories of the war, only to find out later that Muffet has been at the heart of the action in London; indeed, she has returned home only after being seriously injured during the Blitz.
Curator’s notes
This clip is taken from a nine-minute scene that, with only slight changes, would make a complete short film on its own. Beautifully shot, lit, dressed, directed and performed, it is well worth viewing in its entirety. It is difficult to recreate in a two-minute clip the shock felt by the viewer and Bea alike when Muffet’s disability is revealed, but it is a wonderful moment. So too is the realisation that Muffet’s declared intention of ‘going nappy-poos before dinner’ is not the arch utterance of a silly woman about to crash after an afternoon drinking session, but refers to a more basic difficulty arising from her infirmity. A jewel of a cameo performance by Pat Bishop is balanced by Philip Sayer’s authoritative grasp of his own complex and sophisticated character and Victoria Longley’s very clever interpretation of Bea.
The long scene gives us the luxury of taking in a wonderful set, so evocative of the art-deco influenced apartments of the era: all polished chocolate, cream and silver gilt with a dash of burnt orange to warm the tones. Note how the camera moves smoothly through and around the set, taking in every inch of detail without ever losing its main focus, which is the telling of the story.
