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| Nineteen Eighty-Four | |
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 Theatrical poster for 1984 |
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| Directed by | Michael Radford |
| Produced by | Simon Perry |
| Written by | Michael Radford (screenplay) George Orwell (novel) |
| Starring | John Hurt Richard Burton Suzanna Hamilton Cyril Cusack Gregor Fisher |
| Music by | Dominic Muldowney Eurythmics |
| Cinematography | Roger Deakins |
| Editing by | Tom Priestley |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox/Virgin Films |
| Release date(s) | October 10, 1984 |
| Running time | 113 mins. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8,400,000 USD |
| IMDb profile | |
Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes 1984) is a British film based upon George Orwell's novel of the same name, following the life of Winston Smith in Oceania, a country run by a totalitarian government. The film was directed by Michael Radford and stars John Hurt, Richard Burton (in his last film role) and Suzanna Hamilton.
Contents |
Plot summary
Winston Smith endures a squalid existence in the totalitarian superstate of Oceania under the constant surveillance of the Thought Police. The story takes place in London, the capital of the territory of Airstrip One (Britain).
Winston works in a cubicle at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history in accordance with the agenda of the Party which rules Oceania under its supreme figurehead, Big Brother. A man haunted by painful memories and restless desires, Winston is a malcontent who keeps a secret diary of his private thoughts, thus committing thoughtcrime — the crime of independent thought contrary to the aims of the Party.
His life takes a fatal turn when he is accosted by a fellow Outer Party worker — a mysterious, bold-looking girl named Julia — and they begin an illicit affair. Their first meeting takes place in the remote countryside where they exchange subversive ideas and enjoy a sexual encounter. Shortly after, Winston rents a room above a pawn shop where they continue their liaison. Julia, a sensual, free-spirited woman, procures contraband food and clothing for them, and for a brief few months they secretly meet and enjoy an idyllic life of relative freedom and contentment together.
It all comes to an end when they are discovered and arrested, the elderly proprietor of the pawn shop, was a thought police officer from the very start and the whole pawn shop was nothing but a ploy to ensnare malcontent party members fascinated by the past and its preservation (a crime in its own right) just like Winston was. Without warning, the Thought Police raid the flat and arrest the two of them.
Winston and Julia are then separated and taken away to be detained, questioned and rehabilitated. Winston is taken to the Ministry of Love, where he is systematically tortured and brainwashed by O'Brien, a high-ranking member of the Inner Party whom Winston had previously believed to be a fellow thoughtcriminal (particularly, a covert member of Emmanuel Goldstein's Brotherhood).
O'Brien gives Winston didactic instruction about the state's true purpose as well a kind of epistemological catechism involving the theory and praxis of doublethink — i.e., the holding of two contradictory thoughts at the same time. Doublethink entails the subtle, willful denial or suppression of all self-evident truths, memories, and/or physical proofs which run contrary to the absolute political (and personal) reality dictated by the Party. Through the agency of the Ministry of Truth and the Thought Police — which enforces, and operates in tandem with, the private orthodox application of doublethink — the Party may endorse, redact or eradicate entirely all public and private knowledge of history as it sees fit.
For his final rehabilitation, Winston is brought to Room 101, where O'Brien tells him he will be subjected to the "worst thing in the world". When confronted with this unbearable horror, Winston's resistance finally and irretrievably breaks down, and he repudiates his allegiance to Julia. Now completely subjugated and purged of any rebellious thoughts, impulses, or personal attachments, Winston is restored to physical health and released.
Winston returns to the Chestnut Tree Café, where he had previously seen the rehabilitated thought criminals Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford — once prominent but later disgraced members of the Inner Party — who have since been "vaporised" and rendered unpersons. While sitting at the chess table, Winston is approached by Julia, who has also been brainwashed and rehabilitated. They share a bottle of Victory Gin and unemotionally exchange a few words about how they have betrayed each other.
After Julia leaves, Winston watches a broadcast of himself on the telescreen, effusively confessing his "crimes" against the state and imploring forgiveness in the humbled and remorseful manner of a prodigal son come back to the fold.
Upon hearing a news report declaring the Oceanian army's utter rout of the enemy Eurasian forces in North Africa, Winston silently and tearfully professes his gratitude and love for Big Brother as he anticipates the date of his execution. Having been deprived of his freedom to think and feel, and reduced to a mere shell of a man, Winston is soon to be deprived of his very physical existence as well; and he now welcomes his final subjugation to the absolute power and supremacy of the state.
Production
Sonia Brownell, Orwell's widow, owned the film rights to the famed novel. Shortly before her death in 1980, Brownell eventually agreed to allow the film to be produced only under the condition that no futuristic special effects be used.
The glowering, ever-watchful visage of Big Brother was provided by Bob Flag, a non-professional who was cast in the role after answering an open-casting call by the filmmakers in London.
For the role of O'Brien, Paul Scofield, Anthony Hopkins, and Sean Connery were all previously considered. Richard Burton joined the production six weeks into its shooting schedule.
Production on the film occurred in and around London from April to June 1984. Some scenes were shot on the actual days noted in Winston Smith's diary (for example: April 4, 1984) as well as the same locations as mentioned in Orwell’s novel.
Michael Radford and cinematographer Roger Deakins originally wanted to shoot the film in black and white, but the financial backers of the production, Virgin Films, opposed this idea. Instead Deakins used a little-known film processing technique called Bleach bypass to create the distinctive washed-out look of the film's color visuals.
The film is dedicated to the memory of Richard Burton, as this was his last acting role.
Cast
- John Hurt as Winston Smith
- Richard Burton as O'Brien
- Suzanna Hamilton as Julia
- Cyril Cusack as Mr. Charrington
- Gregor Fisher as Parsons
Filming locations
As locations for a contemporary vision of totalitarian Britain, the practical use of famous historical sites around London like Alexandra Palace and the Battersea Power Station appears to have been intended in a somewhat satirical manner. The opening scenes of the film showing the Two Minutes' Hate were filmed in a grass-covered hangar at RAF Hullavington near Chippenham in Wiltshire, not at Alexandra Palace as listed on IMDB. Originally built in 1873 as a "pleasure palace of the people" and named after the Princess of Wales, Alexandra Palace was destroyed by fire a fortnight after opening. The present building was constructed in 1875 and survived for a century until it was gutted by fire in 1980. The remaining roofless shell provided the structure for Victory Square.
The famous disused Battersea Power Station in Wandsworth served as the façade for the Victory Mansions, and the Beckton Gas Works in the vast, decaying Docklands of Newham — an area that had withstood the Blitz during World War II and which has changed little since that time — was used as the setting for the proletarian zones.
In contrast, the idyllic, dreamlike "Golden Country", where Winston and Julia prepair for their first tryst and which recurs in Winston's fantasies, was filmed in the southwest county of Wiltshire at a natural circle of hills called "The Roundway", near the town of Devizes.
Controversy over the musical score
Virgin Films (formerly part of the Virgin Group), who financed the film, commissioned Eurythmics to produce the music for the soundtrack. Director Michael Radford objected to Virgin's insistence on using the more pop-oriented electronic Eurythmics music, as the traditional orchestral score originally intended for the film had been composed entirely by Dominic Muldowney a few months earlier.
Against Radford's wishes, Virgin Films exercised their right of final cut and replaced Muldowney's musical cues with the new Eurythmics' contributions. One Eurythmics song (a wistful, haunting ballad, "Julia") was also heard in its entirety during the film's closing credits. Another Eurythmics song, "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)" was used in its entirety as an overture with no visuals on screen. However, Muldowney's main theme music (particularly the state anthem, "Oceania, 'tis for thee") was still prominently featured in the film. In November 1984, Virgin Records released the Eurythmics soundtrack album, featuring considerably altered versions of their music heard in the film, under the title 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother).
During his acceptance speech at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, Radford openly expressed his displeasure with Virgin's decision and claimed that the Eurythmics music had been "foisted" on his film. Radford had disowned Virgin's edit of the film featuring the mixed Eurythmics/Muldowney score, yet when Nineteen Eighty-Four made its theatrical debut in October 1984 in London and January 1985 in New York this was the version released in wide circulation. Michael Radford withdrew the film from consideration at the BAFTA awards in protest of Virgin's decision to change the musical score.
In 1999, Dominic Muldowney's complete orchestral score (24 tracks in total) was released on a special limited edition CD album under the title Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Music of Oceania, to commemorate the film's fifteenth anniversary. The CD booklet featured previously unseen production photographs and artwork as well as liner notes by Radford.
On the subsequent MGM DVD release in North America in 2003, the film's colour is restored to a normal level of saturation and the Eurythmics contributions to the score were removed entirely and replaced with Muldowney's musical cues as Radford had originally intended — although both Eurythmics and Muldowney are still jointly credited in the opening and closing titles. This version had previously been shown by Channel 4 in the UK in the late-1980s. However, the MGM DVD release of the film in the UK in 2004 features the mixed Eurythmics/Muldowney soundtrack on the English- and French-language audio tracks as well as the original desaturated visuals.
Differences from novel
- The film features a salute, or gesture of devotion, which does not appear in the novel. It is done by holding one's arms up and making the wrists cross each other in the shape of a small V.
- In the book, the Ministry of Plenty is called miniplenty in the Newspeak; in the film its Newspeak name is miniprod, which suggests that its full name is "Ministry of Production". Also, Winston's working place, which is called the Records Department (recdep) of the Ministry of Truth in the novel, is referred to as minirec ("Ministry of Records") in the Newspeak language of the film.
- In the film, Inner and Outer Party members call each other "brother" or "sister" instead of "comrade" as in the novel.
- In the novel, both Winston and Julia visit O'Brien at his private residence in the Victory Mansions for information about joining the Brotherhood. In the film, only Winston meets with O'Brien. In the film, the purpose of their meeting remains ambiguous, and O'Brien does not explicitly reveal his affiliation with the Brotherhood as he does in the novel.
- The film also omits the real reasoning why "Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones" were exposed as traitors and counterrevolutionaries.
- In the film, there is also no mention of Neo-Bolshevism or "Death-Worship". In the book, these are described as the respective ideologies of the two rival totalitarian superstates, Eurasia and Eastasia.
- In this film version (and in the 1954 television play), Goldstein's illegal book is given to Winston disguised as a Newspeak dictionary by O'Brien during their meeting in O'Brien's apartment; in the novel it is handed to him in a briefcase resembling his own amid the hubbub of Hate Week, after the alignments of the war had changed (or not changed, according to doublethink). The Newspeak dictionary was used by O'Brien, in the novel, as a pretext for giving Winston his address.
- In the film, Winston is served some wine by O'Brien himself. In the book, a servant who is identified as a member of the Brotherhood serves Winston and Julia some wine.
Awards
The film won the Best British Film of the Year award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards.
See also
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954 BBC television adaptation)
- 1984 (1956 film version)
- 1984 (opera)
External links
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