An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)

Director:

Mike Newell

Writers:

Beryl Bainbridge (novel)
Charles Wood (writer)

Release Date:

21 July 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In a world of make believe Stella is about to discover the difference between true love... and real life.

Plot:

In Liverpool in 1947, a theatre company is planning to produce a series of plays. Sixteen year old Stella...

Plot Keywords:

Director | Teenage Girl | Actor's Life | 1940s | Virgin

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Alan Rickman	...	P.L. O'Hara
Hugh Grant	...	Meredith Potter
Georgina Cates	...	Stella
Alun Armstrong	...	Uncle Vernon
Peter Firth	...	Bunny
Prunella Scales	...	Rose
Rita Tushingham	...	Aunt Lily
Alan Cox	...	Geoffrey
Edward Petherbridge	...	St. Ives
Nicola Pagett	...	Dotty Blundell
Carol Drinkwater	...	Dawn Allenby
Clive Merrison	...	Desmond Fairchild
Gerard McSorley	...	George
Ruth McCabe	...	Grace Bird
James Frain	...	John Harbour

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and some language.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:MA | Finland:K-14 | Germany:12 (bw) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bewley's Oriental Cafe - 78-79 Grafton Street, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Alan Rickman was reportedly upset to find out that Georgina Cates had lied about her age (she was in her early 20's but stated she was only, indeed, 16) in order to land the role of Stella. He had gone out of his way to be extremely gentle around her during their intimate scenes because of her perceived age.

Goofs:

Continuity: Stella's coat as her uncle leaves the bathroom.

Quotes:

Stella: I know other words. Just that no one cares to hear them.

A convoluted but cogent look at theatre and actors

The real hub around which this movie moves is not Hugh Grant or Alan Rickman but Georgina Cates as Stella, an unpaid sixteen year old student who is not only stagestruck but enamored of Meredith Potter (Hugh Grant), the cruel and thoughtless director who is more interested in boys.

Stella, ignorant of most of life, is unaware of his predilictions and so ill-informed she is afraid she might have a venereal disease from touching a man with her hand. Having been abandoned by her mother (who is the voice on the phone giving the time), she is being raised by her aunt and uncle, well-meaning people who love her but have no idea of what to do with her or tell her. Eventually she is seduced by P.L. O'Hara (Alan Rickman), who has come to Liverpool to play Captain Hook but also to once again look for the woman who bore him a child many years before. He imagines he has a son and that belief allows him to continue, despite his lack of self worth.

He eventually succumbs to his own predilictions when he pursues Stella. She, having no idea of sex other than as something to be done to her, is a slow learner but eventually says that like "learning a ukelele, it takes practice." The Grant character is so thoroughly despicable it proves once and for all that Hugh Grant can, in fact, act. Rickman gives a well done, mostly underplayed performance, not even having a line in the first four scenes he is in. Georgina Cates is the real jewel here, with a combination of naivete and boldness, along with a girlish charm which makes Stella believable as well as pathetic. Not the greatest movie made but a well done, well cast piece of work by professionals with a sense of purpose. See it! But not for the children.