Main Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Gordon Warnecke, Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth, Shirley Ann Field
Release Year: 1985
Country: UK
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
After the death of his wife and his subsequent descent into alcoholic near-agoraphobia, a crotchety Pakistani intellectual convinces his shady entrepreneur brother to provide work for his son in this multi-layered portrait of the immigrant experience in Great Britain. Young Londoner Omar (Gordon Warnecke) isn't sure what he wants out of life, but his uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey) provides a corrupt, capitalist role model as Omar graduates from washing cars for the old crook to running his run-down laundromat. After a chance meeting with Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), an old school chum whose flirtation with fascism deeply wounded Omar's principled Papa (Roshan Seth), Omar hires the young thug to work for him. Soon, the pair begin a romantic relationship that remains as under-wraps as the illicit drug-running and enforcement work they perform for Nasser's associate, Salim (Derrick Branche). On the domestic front, Omar must balance his knowledge of Nasser's long-running affair with posh Brit Rachel (Shirley Ann Field) with his own loyalty and attraction to Nasser's Westernized daughter, Tania (Rita Wolf). After successfully transforming his laundrette into a vision of resplendent pastel suds and providing a bright spot in his otherwise sqalid London neighborhood, Omar seems to have a bright future in Nasser's organization. The spectre of Johnny's past, however, combines with Omar's conflicted immigrant loyalties to threaten the sense of identity the young man has managed to stake out for himself. British-born, half-Pakistani playwright and novelist Hanif Kureishi won an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette, which was originally filmed for BBC television. Kureishi collaborated again with director Stephen Frears on Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
This terse, elliptical, complicated film reveals new layers with each viewing despite the somewhat simplistic hopefulness of its message that love and loyalty can conquer differences in class, politics, and ethnic background. Writer Hanif Kureishi and director Stephen Frears pack My Beautiful Laundrette with so many characters, ideas, and well-observed moments that stars Gordon Warnecke and Daniel Day-Lewis barely get the chance to demonstrate their characters' dance of desire and economic power. It's a toss-up whether the compression of Johnny and Omar's romance and struggle with the past into a few key scenes is the mark of brilliantly cinematic storytelling or simply of Kureishi's inexperience; either way, My Beautiful Laundrette is hardly a romantic comedy despite the sweetness of its love story and the wry humor of its tangled social and economic circles. Day-Lewis and Warnecke are appealing in their fresh-faced naïveté and bravado, but it's Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth, and the tart, smart Rita Wolf whose perceptive, pitch-perfect characters provide the theories and examples by which Omar can gauge his integration into Anglo-Pakistani society. All this talk of identity politics makes My Beautiful Laundrette sound strident and stuffy, but it isn't. Full of indelible characters and well-defined conflicts, Frears and Kureishi's film works on the most basic level as a coming-of-age story -- one whose rich details provide astute audiences with plenty to ponder. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Omar (Gordon Warnecke) is the son of a Pakistani journalist who lives in London but hates Britain and its international politics. By contrast, Omar's paternal uncle Nasser is a successful entrepreneur and an active member of the London Asian community. Omar's father asks his uncle to give him a job and, after working for a brief time as a car washer in one of his uncle's garages, he is assigned the task of running a run-down laundrette and turning it into a profitable business.
Omar's car is attacked by a group of right-wing extremists shouting racist slogans: among them he recognizes an old friend of his, Johnny (Daniel Day Lewis). Johnny agrees to help Omar, and they resume a love affair which (it is implied) had been interrupted after school.
At Nasser's, Omar meets a few other members of the Pakistani community: Tania, Nasser's daughter and possibly a future bride; and Salim, who trafficks drugs and hires him to deliver them from the airport. Running out of money, Omar and Johnny sell one of Salim's deliveries to make cash for the laundrette redecoration.
The laundrette becomes a success. At the opening day, Nasser visits the store with his mistress, Rachel. They dance together in the laundrette while Omar and Johnny are kissing in the back room. Omar and Johnny are almost caught by Nasser, but Omar claims they were sleeping. Tania confronts Rachel about having an affair with her father, Nasser. Nasser and Rachel leave the laundrette and fight, Rachel storms off. She later falls ill with a skin rash apparently caused by a potion made by his wife, and decides to leave him.
Omar proposes to Tania, but she decides to leave. She drops by and asks Johnny to go away with her; he refuses because he does not want to leave Omar, and she departs.
Omar's father is unhappy with his son running a laundrette and appeals to Johnny to persuade Omar to go to college.
Omar decides to take over two laundrettes owned by a friend of Nasser, with the help of Salim. Salim drives Johnny and Omar to view one of the properties, and he expresses his dislike of the British non-working punks. Salim attempts to run over the group of punks who had previously attacked Omar's car and injured one of them. The group of working class punks decide to wait for Salim around the laundrette. They ambush and attack him, until Johnny decides to save him, despite their mutual dislike.
The film cuts to Nasser visiting Omar's father, and their decision about his future. Nasser sees Tania at a train platform while she is running away.
Meanwhile, Johnny's friends decide to attack him for supporting the Asian community, and beat him savagely until he is saved by Omar. Omar proceeds to clean up his wounds, and the two bond. The film ends with them splashing each other with water while topless.
Production highlights
My Beautiful Laundrette was Frears' fifth feature film. Originally shot for television, it was later released in cinemas and eventually became his first international success. The movie features an early performance by Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis in the role of Johnny. The cast also includes Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth, Gordon Warnecke, Derrick Branche and Rita Wolf.
The film benefits from a widely praised original screenplay by Hanif Kureishi, which depicts London life in the Thatcher Era through the complex — and often comical relationships between members of the Asian and White community. The plot tackles many polemical issues, such as homosexuality, racism and England's economic and political policy during the 1980s.
My Beautiful Laundrette marked the first time Oliver Stapleton was in charge of the cinematography in one of Frears' movies. He would later grow to be one of the director's most stable collaborators. This film was also one of the first films released by Working Title Films.
