We’re joined by Fiona Underhill and Caitlin Merriman to battle it out: who is the poshest actor in Britain? And what defines ‘posh’ in such a class-conscious country?
Bonus Episode 19: Who is the poshest actor in Britain?
Fiona Underhill podcast
Ep. 118: The Souvenir Part I and II
Joanna Hogg calls The Souvenir Part II “a film about the making of Part I.” Back in 2019, we wrote an ebook about the making of Part I. On this episode, find out how Part II changes how we see Part I and builds Julie’s character arc.
Ep. 117: The North Water
This episode focuses on site favourite Andrew Haigh’s newest project, The North Water, starring Jack O’Connell and Colin Farrell. We discuss how this on-the-surface unusual work fits into Haigh’s thematic interests.
This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and special guest Fiona Underhill. It also features an excerpt from Alex’s interview with Andrew Haigh.
The North Water
Patrick Sumner (Jack O’Connell), an ex-army surgeon desperate for work signs aboard a whaling expedition. The expedition is not what it seems and it leads Patrick into a fight for survival in both the isolated North and the power brokers in Hull. The North Water co-stars Colin Farrell, Stephen Graham, Tom Courtenay, and Sam Spruell.
The five episodes of The North Water are available to stream on Prime and AMC in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK.
On this episode
- Intro (1:05)
- Why did Andrew Haigh do this series? (16:42)
- Andrew Haigh on upending expectations in his work (28:11)
- Who is the real evil? Drax (Colin Farrell), Cavendish (Sam Spruell), and Baxter (Tom Courtenay) (35:01)
- What does it mean to be civilized (45:12)
- Sumner and Drax as mirrors (51:51)
- The episodic structure (1:00:03)
- The Inuit characters (1:20:01)
- The lack of promotion for the series (1:27:27)
- Conclusion (1:32:55)
Show notes
- Visit our Directors We Love page on Andrew Haigh, collecting all of our articles and podcasts about his film and television work
- Check out MovieJawn magazine for Fiona’s article on The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, starring a young Tom Courtenay
- Purchase our ebook on Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete
- Purchase our ebook on Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir
Related episodes
- Ep. 110: Brief encounters: Weekend and End of the Century
- Ep. 94: Looking
- Ep. 91: AIDS on screen, featuring It’s a Sin
- Ep. 69: Paddington and Paddington 2
- Ep. 53: Boys State and First Stripes
- Ep. 32: Sorry We Missed You and Peterloo
- Ep. 7: Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete
Ep. 100: Films for the future
To celebrate our 100th episode, ten regular guests share what they would choose if they got to make the whole world watch one movie.
Ep. 93: The films of Agnieszka Holland
On this podcast episode, we celebrate the work of great Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, focusing on Europa Europa, Washington Square, and Charlatan.
This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Fiona Underhill, Editor-in-Chief of JumpCut Online.
On this Agnieszka Holland podcast episode
- Why Agnieszka Holland is a great director (3:06)
- Charlatan (19:22)
- Europa, Europa (38:50)
- Washington Square (53:46)
- Themes in Holland’s work (1:10:04)
- Sex in Holland’s films (1:16:20)
Charlatan (2020)
A biopic of Jan Mikolásek, who becomes a rich man by diagnosing people’s urine and selling herbal remedies. His practice helps him survive the Nazi occupation and later the totalitarian Czech state. Late in his life, he’s arrested for being a ‘charlatan’ and must stand trial for murder, only to learn he’s being framed. The court case serves as a device to have him look back on his life story: how he became who he is today, learned his trade, and the relationships he had along the way.
Europa, Europa (1990)
Based on the true story of Solomon Perel, it’s the story of a German wish boy, Solek (Marco Hofschneider) who survived the Holocaust by pretending to be a Nazi German. After Cristallnacht, Solek and his family move to Poland, but when they discover the Germans are invading, Solek and his brother leave to escape to Russia. They’re separated, and Solek ends up in a Russian orphanage for several years. When it’s bombed by the Germans, he escapes and when is faced with the Germans who are asking who is Jewish, he makes a snap decision to pretend to be a gentile and finds himself working as a Russian-German translator for the Nazis, and finally, in a school for the Hitler Youth.
Europa, Europa is streaming on the Criterion Channel in Canada and the US
Washington Square (1997)
Based on the novella by Henry James, Washington Square is the story of Catherine (Jennifer Jason Leigh), an heiress who falls in love with a charming but poor man, Morris (Ben Chaplin). Her father (Albert Finney) disapproves and believes Morris is only after her fortune so he threatens to disinherit her should she marry against his will. He also separates them for a year, and through this and his suspicions, manages to kill off any love there was between them. Maggie Smith also stars as her aunt Lavinia.
Washington Square is available on VOD and streaming on Hoopla in Canada and the US
Agnieszka Holland podcast episode notes
- Sign up for our Lockdown Film School session with Agnieszka Holland
- Read Alex’s interview with Holland, about her 2017 film Spoor
- Read Alex’s review of Charlatan after hearing us discuss the film on the podcast
- View our other Lockdown Film School sessions, including Patricia Rozema, Mike Leigh, Amma Asante, and Alice Winocour
Related episodes
- Episode 55: Comparing Adaptations of The Secret Garden
- Episode 88: The 2021 Oscar Best International Feature category
Ep. 88: The 2021 Oscar Best International Feature Category
The 2021 Oscar Best International Feature nominees have been revealed. But were these the best international films of the year? Find out on this episode covering the nominees, the shortlist, and the notable snubs.
This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Fiona Underhill, Editor-in-Chief of JumpCut Online.
The 2021 Oscar Best International Feature nominees
- Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark)
- Better Days (Derek Tsang, Hong Kong)
- Collective (Alexander Nanau, Romania)
- The Man Who Sold His Skin (Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia)
- Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Žbanić, Bosnia & Herzegovina)
On this episode:
- How is the Best International Feature Category decided? (7:20)
- The nominees (17:35)
- Collective (27:25)
- The Man Who Sold His Skin (32:31)
- Better Days (36:36)
- Films on the shortlist (43:04)
- The snubs (1:01:17)
Show notes
- Listen to our podcast episode featuring Another Round
- Listen to Fiona discuss Another Round on The Film Stage podcast
- Read Orla’s interview with Thomas Vinterberg on The Film Stage
- Listen to our podcast episode featuring Hope
- Listen to our podcast episode featuring Promising Young Women
- Listen to our podcast episode featuring Quo Vadis Aida?
- Visit our Quo Vadis, Aida? Resource Page
- Listen to our podcast episode featuring Sound of Metal
- Listen to our podcast episode featuring True Mothers
- Listen to our podcast episode on TIFF 2020, featuring Nomadland
- Listen to our podcast episode featuring Timbuktu
- Read Alex’s review of Charlatan
- Read Alex’s review of Charter
- Visit JumpCut online for more Oscar coverage and the upcoming True History of True History of the Kelly Gang