Nil by Mouth

Nil by Mouth
Directed by	Gary Oldman
Produced by	Gary Oldman/Douglas Urbanski/Luc Besson/Hilary Dwyer (co-producer)
Written by	Gary Oldman
Starring	Ray Winstone Kathy Burke Charlie Creed-Miles
Music by	Eric Clapton
Cinematography	Ron Fortunato
Editing by	Brad Fuller
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s)	8 May 1997 (premiere at Cannes) 10 October 1997 (UK) 6 February 1998 (USA) 21 May 1998 (Australia)
Running time	128 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$9,000,000 (estimated)

Nil by Mouth is a 1997 British film surrounding the life of a family of characters living in South East London. It was Gary Oldman's debut as writer, director; he also produced the film in partnership with Douglas Urbanski and Luc Besson. It stars Ray Winstone as Raymond, the abusive husband of Valerie (Kathy Burke). The film was a critical success, winning eight awards and being nominated for a further eight.

The film takes place and was inspired by the environment Oldman witnessed growing up on a council estate in South East London. Oldman cast his sister Laila Morse (most famous for playing Mo Harris in EastEnders) as Janet and had his mother sing the parting song in the film (although it was dubbed over a shot of another actress singing).

The soundtrack has never been released, reportedly due to contractual obligations of the material Eric Clapton contributed.^{[citation needed]}

This film employs around 428 uses of the word "fuck".^[1] This results in about 3.3 occurrences per minute.

In 2001, Mind The Gap Theatre performed a stage adaptation in New York City as part of the British Airways sponsored UKwithNYC.

Oldman's screenplay was published as Nil By Mouth: screenplay by Gary Oldman; introduction by Douglas Urbanski. London: ScreenPress Books, 1997.

Principal cast

• Ray Winstone as Ray
• Kathy Burke as Valerie
• Charlie Creed-Miles as Billy
• Laila Morse as Janet
• Edna Doré as Kath
• Chrissie Cotterill as Paula
• Jon Morrison as Angus
• Jamie Foreman as Mark
• Steve Sweeney as Danny

Reception

The film was generally well received by critics, with a 61% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film received a more enthusiastic response from audiences; as of October 13, 2009, the film holds a 7.3/10 rating at the Internet Movie Database, based on 3,271 votes from film fans.

The film won a number of awards including two BAFTA Awards.

Synopsis

The film opens with the main characters in a local pub. There is clearly tension between Valerie, who sits with her mother and friends, and Ray, Valerie’s partner, who sits with his friends. The message of the film is clearly set here: the worlds of men and women are separate. Mark tells a crude but funny story and Ray tries to join in with it.

While this is going on, Billy is trying to buy drugs outside a Laundromat.

The next main scene sees Valerie, Ray and their daughter Michelle at home with Bill (Valerie’s brother) and their mother Janet and one of Ray’s friends Mark. It is significant that the non-stop torrent of swearing in this film continues in front of Michelle who is about 7 years old. When Bill enters, he speaks affectionately to Michelle who barely responds. In the entire film she doesn’t speak and this is virtually the only acknowledgment of her existence by any adult and is effectively the only suggestion of affection by anyone for her.

Ray, Mark and Bill go for a night out. Janet asks Valerie where Ray is going and she says that she doesn’t know or care. The men go to a casino and strip club both of which they find equally as fascinating as the fatality that they witness on their way home. This implies that they are sufficiently desensitised by life to only be thrilled by gambling, sex and violence.

Back at the flat, Bill steals Ray’s drugs and is then savagely assaulted by Ray who bites his nose and throws him out of his and Valerie’s flat. Bill spends the next few days sleeping rough and then goes to live with his grandmother and mother who lends/gives him money for drugs. In a touching scene she silently watches Bill injecting himself in the back of her van.

Bill becomes increasing desperate for money and is violent and abusive to his mother who refuses to give him any more money. Later he breaks into Ray and Val’s flat to steal things to sell for drugs. When Ray is aware of what Bill has done he (and Valerie and Michelle) go to Janet and her mother’s flat to see if Bill is there. There is particularly unpleasant bout of anger and swearing where everyone gives as good as each other.

The next significant scene sees Ray unhappy with Valerie playing pool with another man while she is out with her mother and friends. He orders her home where she goes to bed and he sits up drinking. Later he wakes her up and beats her viciously, accusing her of having an affair.

One of Billy’s friends, Danny has a very young puppy in the Laundromat where they hang around. It is obviously far too young to survive for long away from its mother and the man is patently unable to look after it. This is clear analogy for the human relationships in the film.

The next day, Janet comes round and sees Valerie's appalling injuries. Valerie claims to have been run over. Janet believes her and then leaves. Valerie then becomes stuck on the stairs: the implication being that she is having a miscarriage. She is taken to the hospital from where her mother and friends take her away. Ray and Mark come to the hospital as they are leaving and Angus knocks Ray out. Valerie watches a partially conscious Ray lying in the car park.

Ray and Mark go round to try to pick up Michelle. When Janet shouts at Ray he becomes violent, throwing a stone through the window.

Bill and a friend are being chased by a man with a knife and they become trapped in the Laundromat. The final time we see Bill, he has been arrested and is removing drugs from his anus which he proceeds to smoke.

Ray rings up Valerie at Angus’ house and tries but fails to speak to her coherently. He then shadowboxes in a mirror while talking to himself before completely destroying the flat.

We next see him at Mark’s house explaining that he has never stood a chance as his father was a violent drunk who never spoke kindly to him, never showed any love and was free with his fists towards Ray and his mother.

As the film closes the family are reconciled as they prepare to visit Bill in jail.

Analysis

This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (November 2009)

The main theme of the film, apart from poverty and violence, is the misery of lives that have not lived up to expectations. Ray and Valerie clearly love each other. Their wedding photos are still on display and there are touching moments but their bitterness at life has poisoned their relationship almost terminally. Ray fancies himself as a “big man” and a fighter; in his youth he was probably tough but he is clearly not big or tough any more. The ease with which Angus knocks him out shows that. Deep down, Ray knows he is a failure in every possible way but he is too proud and weak to try to change. Therefore, like his father, he will delude himself by exercising his inadequacies on Valerie and Bill and by showing off in front of Mark who is clever but weak.

It would be easy to simply label Ray as the abuser and Valerie as the victim but this would be superficial. Ray genuinely lacks the ability to convey his feelings to Valerie. When he clumsily says “I only did it cos I love ya.” he isn’t really justifying his violence but is attempting to apologise but either doesn’t know how or has learned extensively and probably violently from his father that men do not apologise to women. He has had no role models in life on which to model his behaviour.

Valerie is certainly not prepared to leave him, not least because she lacks the courage to be alone. Valerie tells Ray that “I don’t feel loved…I’ll find someone who’ll love me.” But she doesn’t. This could be because she, as a very plain single mother with few talents, won’t find anyone or because she is scared of being rejected if she makes the effort. Valerie has almost certainly been taught that loyalty to the family is of paramount importance and so she accepts Ray’s behaviour inadvertently training Michelle to replace her in the next generation. In the Working Men's Club near the end of the film, the women sing "I can't help loving that man" with a desperate passion.

Rather than face up to their inadequacies as a single people, Ray and Valerie find it easier to hide from their failings together: Ray by drinking himself to sleep every night, Valerie by chain-smoking in front of the television. The price they pay for this is that Valerie will be regularly beaten by Ray and he will slowly consume himself with his own self-loathing.

Awards and nominations

• 1997 Cannes Film Festival:
  • Winner: Best Actress (Kathy Burke)^[2]
  • Nominee: Palme d'Or (Golden Palm)^[2]

• 1997 Edinburgh International Film Festival:
  • Winner: Channel 4 Director's Award (Gary Oldman)

• 1997 European Film Awards:
  • Nominee: Best Cinematographer (Ray Fortunato)

• 1997 BAFTA Awards:
  • Winner: Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (Douglas Urbanski)
  • Winner: BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay (Gary Oldman)
  • Nominee: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Ray Winstone)
  • Nominee: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Kathy Burke)

• 1998 British Independent Film Awards:
  • Winner: Best Performance by a British Actor in an Independent Film (Ray Winstone)
  • Winner: Best Performance by a British Actress in an Independent Film (Kathy Burke)
  • Winner: Most Promising Newcomer in any Category (Laila Morse)
  • Nominee: Best British Director of an Independent Film (Gary Oldman)
  • Nominee: Best British Independent Film
  • Nominee: Best Original Screenplay by a British Writer of a Produced Independent Film (Gary Oldman)

• 1998 Empire Awards:
  • Winner: Best Debut (Gary Oldman)

• 1997 Royal Variety Club of Great Britain
  • Winner: Best Film Actress (Kathy Burke)^[3]

• 1997: Golden Frog Award:
  • Nominee: Cinematography (Ron Fortunato)

References

External links

• Nil by Mouth at the Internet Movie Database
• Nil by Mouth at Allmovie
• screenonline:Nil By Mouth
• Gary Oldman Nil By Mouth interview in TimeOut magazine
• Review by Eye for Film, of Nil by Mouth