alr

The Birthday Party

Screening on Film
Directed by William Friedkin.
With Robert Shaw, Sydney Tafler, Patrick Magee.
UK, 1968, 35mm, color, 123 min.
Print source: Disney

Paranoia, sadism, and collective guilt invade a British seaside resort when two strangers make it their business – or perhaps it’s their pleasure – to destroy the mental stability of a lonely boarder whose fragile vulnerability is wonderfully played by Robert Shaw. Pinter’s stylized dialogue, which includes lines censored for the play's 1958 British debut, is energized by Friedkin’s relentlessly invasive and intelligent camerawork. The Birthday Party, along with Friedkin's other 1968 feature, The Boys in the Band,  revealed his great talent  as a director of filmed plays, a reputation which he would deliberately and radically break from with his next film, The French Connection.

Part of film series

Read more

The Uncanny Cinema of William Friedkin

Current and upcoming film series

Read more

Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 2024 McMillan-Stewart Fellow

Read more

The Practice (and Other Works) By Martín Rejtman

Read more

Chronicles of Changing Times. The Cinema of Edward Yang

Read more
Gene Hackman crouched beside a toilet with audio equipment

From the HFA Collection...

Read more

Being In a Place. Rediscovering Margaret Tait