Film analysis - Withnail and I

Withnail and I

Director: Bruce Robinson
Year: 1987
Box office gross: US $1.5m
UK £500k
Budget: £1.1m


Synopsis:
Withnail and I is the semi-autobiographical tale of two young unemployed actors at the end of the 1960's; the egomaniac Withnail and the anxious 'I'. Living in squalor, they decide to escape from their depressing lives and enjoy a holiday in the Lake District, thanks to Withnail's Uncle Monty. But things do not go particularly smoothly, and the holiday is anything but idyllic.

The film's original poster

The logo for Hand Made Films, a British independent film company would suggest that the film itself has been relatively cheaply made. There are no other logos for production companies or distributors, backing up this theory.

This is a simple medium shot, with the character off centre to the right. The film title fades in in the bottom left-hand corner, making it easy to read and also to watch the opening scenes.

The producers name appears before any other cast or crew member, giving a sense of ownership.

The credits for the main cast start to fade in, and it could be inferred that the actor whose name appears first is the one the camera is focusing upon.

The shot has now become a close up, with the actor (Paul McGann) framed centrally as opposed to off to one side as he was before.

An extreme close up, and we get even more of a sense of the character and what emotions he is feeling.

A slow pan across the room allows for further cast and crew names to appear. A second function of the shot is to establish the characters surroundings through use of mise-en-scene. We get the idea of what kind of environment he's living in.

It's perhaps unusual for the production designer to recieve credit first, but as we're panning across a set he presumably designed, it's strangely appropriate.

Again, the camera operator has also contributed to the mood created so far, and we are currently looking through his lens.

The scenes add further background detail through use of mise-en-scene, we are given exposition about the character's surroundings.

The music that plays throughout the opening acts as a bridge to all of the scenes, as well as building mood. It's also an example of non-diagetic sound.

The second credit for producer Paul Heller, suggesting that he had a major part in helping the film get made.

The writer/director's credit is the last in the sequence before the film begins, and it's fairly inconspicuous, the same size as all the previous credits.

This is the first time dialogue has been spoken in the film, and it sets up the relationship between the character we have been following and his roomate.

This last bit of onscreen text sets up the film's location and time simply and effectively. It also dispenses with any narrative enigma the audience might've had about the setting.