Fanny & Elvis
UK/France 1999
Reviewed by Edward Lawrenson
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Following a doctor's appointment at which she's told she has a year left on her biological clock in which to become pregnant, novelist Kate Dickson drives to meet her husband Rob. On the way, she crashes into car salesman Dave Parker's Jaguar. They argue. Next she discovers Rob is leaving her for 20-year-old Samantha - Dave's wife. Needing money, Kate decides to rent out another of her rooms (gay actor Andrew already lodges with her). Dave, now homeless, brings round the bill for the Jaguar. Unable to pay, Kate reluctantly lets Dave stay rent-free in her spare room.
Kate visits a fertility clinic but can't afford the treatment. Her frosty attitude towards Dave melts after spending a drunken but chaste night with him. They begin a relationship and Kate gets pregnant. But when Dave discovers Kate comforting a contrite Rob he mistakenly thinks she still loves him and leaves her. Months later, on the eve of the new millennium, Dave turns up at Kate's house to attempt a reconciliation. Heavily pregnant, Kate goes into labour; Dave rushes her to hospital. She gives birth to twins, Fanny and Elvis, and falls back in love with Dave.
Review
Kay Mellor is perhaps best known for writing the television series Band of Gold and Playing the Field. Popular with audiences, these were accessible, finely crafted dramas, which winningly combined the character-based concerns of soap opera with a salty dash of social realism. So Mellor's debut feature as writer-director, Fanny & Elvis, comes as a particular disappointment. A cheerless romantic comedy, it's closer in tone to the smug, thirtysomething angstfests (Cold Feet, say) schedulers are so fond of these days than anything she's done in the past.
But Fanny & Elvis' biggest surprise is how uncomfortably close to caricature Mellor makes her protagonist Kate, the fussy middle-class novelist who falls for rough diamond Dave. Ever conscious of her advancing biological clock, Kate spends most of her time either launching broody lurches at the nearest available man, or subjecting Dave to hissy, waspish fits of temper. The presence of Absolutely Fabulous' Jennifer Saunders as Kate's ditzy literary agent suggests Mellor's ribbing of Kate's middle-aged malaise was meant in the spirit of Ab Fab's cheeky brand of satire, but lacking Saunders' comic ebullience the end result is closer to a self-satisfied sneer than a tolerant grin.
The clumsy depiction of Kate and Dave's growing intimacy most clearly illustrates Mellor's disregard for her characters. Naturally, in the best romantic-comedy tradition, Kate and Dave hate one another from the outset. But their ensuing thaw is so thinly developed Mellor ends up advancing some fairly unorthodox views on the nature of romantic love. Increasingly desperate for a baby, Kate finally throws herself at Dave when she discovers he's fathered a batch of kids in previous marriages. Dave only relents when he's assured that, whatever happens, he won't have to pay child maintenance. From then on, the two are in love and fated to be together - an inevitability a long time coming thanks to a convoluted separation Mellor clumsily arranges half way through the film.
So there you have it, a definition of love which is frighteningly cynical, almost neo-Darwinian in its scope. With Mellor unable to convince us otherwise, Kate and Dave's relationship seems predicated exclusively on grounds of biological compatibility (and narrative necessity). For a supposedly feelgood romantic comedy, this must be a first.
Credits
- Producer
- Laurie Borg
- Screenplay
- Kay Mellor
- Director of Photography
- John Daly
- Editor
- Christopher Blunden
- Production Designer
- Maria Djurkovic
- Music
- Stephen Warbeck
- ©Scala (Fanny) Limited/The Film Consortium Limited/IMA Films SA
- Production Companies
- Production finance arranged through Cofiloisirs S.A.
- Executive Producer
- Nik Powell
- Co-executive Producer
- Georges Benayoun
- Co-producer
- Marina Gefter
- Line Producer
- Jane Robertson
- Associate Producers
- Rachel Wood
- Sarah Giles
- Production Co-ordinator
- Rachel Kinnock
- Location Manager
- Tony Clarkson
- Post-production Supervisor
- Polly Duval
- Assistant Directors
- Martin Harrison
- Finn McGrath
- Mike Hanley
- Script Supervisor
- June McDonald
- Casting
- John Hubbard
- Ros Hubbard
- Camera Operator
- Dave Worley
- Special Effects
- Stuart Murdoch
- Art Director
- Tatiana Lund
- Storyboard Artist
- Joe Berger
- Costume Designer
- Stewart Meachem
- Kerry Fox Fantasy Costumes Design
- Amy Roberts
- Wardrobe Supervisor
- Alli Goss
- Hair/Make-up
- Supervisor:
- Jan Sewell
- Artist:
- Jo Allen
- Title Design/ Optical Effects
- Magic Camera Company
- Chris Allies
- Music Conductor
- Nick Ingman
- Orchestral Leader
- Gavyn Wright
- Music Supervisor
- Liz Gallacher
- Recording Engineer
- Chris Dibble
- Soundtrack
- "The Wonder of You" by Baker Knight, performed by Elvis Presley; "Fantastic Day" by Nick Heyward, performed by Haircut 100; "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Pino Donaggio, Vito Pallavicini, Simon Napier-Bell, Vicky Wickham, performed by Dusty Springfield; "Hound Dog" by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, performed by Ray
- Winstone; "Love Is in the Air" by Johannes H.J. Vandenberg, George Young, performed by (1) Ben Daniels, (2) John Paul Young; "Where Love Lies" by Lars Kronlund, performed by Alison Limerick; "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley, Vera Matson, performed by Ray Winstone; "Timeless Heritage" by Gurdev Singh, Harbhajan Singh; "Feels Like I'm in Love" by Ray Dorset, performed by Kelly Marie; "Ding Dong Merrily" arranged by Terry Webster, performed by Jive Bunny, Master Mizera; "The More I See You" by Mack Gordon, Harry Warren, strings arranged/conducted by Nick Ingman, leader Gavyn Wright, hammond: Graham Harvey, guitars: John Parricelli, tenor saxophone: Rob Townsend, bass: Tim Harries, percussion: Paul Clarvis, drums: Dave Mattocks, recorded/mixed by Chris Dibble, performed by Cerys Matthews
- Production Sound Mixer
- Simon Hayes
- Re-recording Mixer
- Mike Dowson
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Matt Grimes
- Dialogue Editor
- Keith Marriner
- ADR
- Editor:
- Jonathan Cronin
- Foley
- Editor:
- Miriam Ludbrook
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Lee Sheward
- Animals Co-ordinator
- Animals OK
- Cast
- Kerry Fox
- Kate
- Ray Winstone
- Dave
- Ben Daniels
- Andrew
- David Morrissey
- Rob
- Jennifer Saunders
- Roanna
- Colin Salmon
- Alan
- Gaynor Faye
- Samantha
- William Ash
- Rick
- Gareth Tudor Price
- Doctor Langford
- Bridget Forsythe
- Nurse Lynne
- Eileen O'Brien
- midwife
- Nick Lane
- car salesman
- Richard Moore
- IVF consultant
- Sarah Parks
- receptionist
- Ron Blass
- jeweller
- Michael Medwin
- registrar
- Yvonne Mellor
- harassed mother
- Joyce Kennedy
- Dave's mum
- Robert Maxfield
- postman
- Daniel Riley
- Samantha's young man
- Mike Kelly
- stall holder
- Maureen Lunt
- Doctor Barker's patient
- Paul Gibbon
- Red Indian
- Rachel Egan
- Cassy
- Rita May
- Rick's mother
- Harriet Andrews
- Kirsty
- Abbie Craven
- Shelly
- Katie Hodgson
- Chloe
- Richard Stacey
- Daniel
- Andrew Nixy
- Paul
- Grace Francas-Mellor
- crying girl
- Elliot Francas-Mellor
- baby boy
- Certificate
- tbc
- Distributor
- United International Pictures (UK) Ltd
- tbc feet
- tbc minutes
- Colour by
- Technicolor
- 1:75.1