This film is part of the second installment of our summer series CINEMATES, which focuses on films about friendship.
London, 1960s. This British cult comedy follows two unemployed young actors who spend their days holed up in a filthy flat, surviving on little more than alcohol and drugs. As their careers stubbornly refuse to take off, paranoia sets in and the booze begins to run dry. In a desperate bid to escape their miserable existence in the city, the pair head for the countryside. What follows is a disastrous trip filled with downpours, bad luck, and tragically comic excess.
Withnail and I is based on Bruce Robinson’s own years in London as a struggling actor. In his words, it’s “a tale of English hopelessness” that “doesn’t know it’s funny.”
Praised for its razor-sharp, poetic dialogue, this cult classic ultimately endures as a bittersweet portrait of a very unusual friendship.
★★★★★ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
''I am intensely envious of anyone seeing this glorious classic for the first time.''