Billy Liar
Screening on Film
Directed by John Schlesinger.
With Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles.
UK, 1963, 35mm, black & white, 98 min.
With Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles.
UK, 1963, 35mm, black & white, 98 min.
With powerful performances in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Billy Liar, Tom Courtenay stood at the forefront of the British New Wave. His portrayal of the title character in this film is certainly the lighter of the two but no less complex in its construct. Billy is a young man who dreams of leaving behind his dreary life in Northern England for an idealized existence in Ambrosia, a fantasyland where he rules supreme. His penchant for escapism gets him entangled in a web of lies and engagements to three women, including Julie Christie in a free-spirited debut performance. Schlesinger successfully balances the fantastic elements of the stage play on which the film is based with a fitting measure of Kitchen Sink realism.
