Personal Services
{{short description|1987 British comedy film directed by Terry Jones}}
{{other uses|Personal service (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Personal Services
| image = Personal services poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Terry Jones
| producer = Tim Bevan
| writer = David Leland
| starring = {{Plainlist |
}}
| music = John Du Prez
| cinematography = Roger Deakins
| editing = George Akers
| studio = Zenith Entertainment
| distributor = Vestron Pictures
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|1987|04|3|London}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Times|date=28 March 1987|page=18|title=The Week Ahead}}
| runtime = 105 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = $2.7 million{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=14 December 1998|page=102|title=15 years of production}}
| gross = $5 million (UK/USA)
}}
Personal Services is a 1987 British comedy film directed by Terry Jones and written by David Leland, about the rise of a madam of a suburban brothel which caters to older men. The story is inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne, the "House of Cyn" madam.
Plot
Christine Painter is a sexually naïve waitress and single mother who pays for her teenage son David's tuition by renting London flats to call girls. When a landlord confronts her for illegally subletting the flats and falling behind on the rent, Christine gives him a handjob in lieu of rent. After one of her "tenants", Rose, refuses to pay rent, Christine realises she can do sex work herself in the flat Rose abandons.
Christine is charged with soliciting and pleads guilty in court. Soon she hatches a scheme with fellow sex worker Shirley to provide strictly kinky services such as bondage and fetish roleplay to an upscale clientele.
They rent a suburban house, where they are joined by their "maid" Dolly.
Christine attends her sister's wedding, where Dolly is accidentally exposed as transvestite to the groom's mother. Christine's father and sister angrily denounce her for spoiling the wedding.
Christine's father later visits the brothel for sex and reconciles with his daughter. The brothel enjoys brisk business, but soon attracts the notice of the police, who raid the house on Christmas Eve.
When Christine appears in court to be arraigned, she is relieved when she realises the judge is one of her main clients; she then imagines the courtroom filled with all of her clients as judges.
Cast
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
- Julie Walters as Christine Painter
- Shirley Stelfox as Shirley
- Alec McCowen as Wing Commander Morten
- Danny Schiller as Dolly
- Tim Woodward as Timms
- Victoria Hardcastle as Rose
- Dave Atkins as Sydney
- Ewan Hooper as Edward
- Alan Bowyer as David Painter
- Antony Carrick as Edgar
- Beverley Foster as Elizabeth
- Leon Lissek as Mr. Popozogolou
- Michelle Collins as June
- Peter Cellier as Mr. Marples
- Benjamin Whitrow as Mr. Marsden
- Stephen Lewis as Mr. Dunkley
- John Shrapnel as Lionel
- Anthony Collin as Mr Webb
- Nigel Le Vaillant as The Man
- Ron Pember as Ron
- Arthur Whybrow as Max
- John Bailey as Mr Gardner
- Carolyn Allen as Carol
- Ivor Roberts as Glossop
- Arthur Cox as Lennox
- Stanley Lebor as Jones
- Sheila Gill as Mrs Winter
- Jagdish Kumar as Mr Shah
- Badi Uzzaman as Mr Patel
- Charlotte Seeley (aka Charlotte Alexandra) as Diane
{{div col end}}
Reception
Personal Services opened at five cinemas in central London on 3 April 1987, and was the highest-grossing film in London for the week, with a gross of £57,775.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=15 April 1987|page=34|title=International Boxoffice|quote=$93,595; $1.62=£1}} It reached number one nationally in the UK after 10 weeks of release and was number one for two weeks.{{cite news|newspaper=The Times|page=22|title=Top Films and Video|date=26 June 1987|agency=Screen International}} The film was the second highest-grossing British film of the year in the UK, behind only The Living Daylights, with a gross of £1,952,017 ($3.2 million).{{cite magazine|magazine=Screen International|title=UK Top 50 Films in 1987|page=10|date=2 January 1988}}{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-back-to-the-future-the-fall-and-rise-of-the-british-film-industry-in-the-1980s.pdf|page=27|title=Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing|website=British Film Institute|date=2005}} It grossed $1,744,164 in the United States and Canada.{{mojo title|personalservices|Personal Services}}{{cite web|url=http://find.galegroup.com/stha/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=STHA&userGroupName=slnsw_public&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=FP1801908206&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0|author=Olins, Rufus|title=Mr Fixit of the British Screen|website=The Sunday Times|location=London, England|date=24 September 1995|pages=9[S]|publisher=The Sunday Times Digital Archive|accessdate=29 March 2014}}
Ban
The film was banned in the Republic of Ireland upon theatrical release (although the ban was lifted two months later). At the time, there were four films that were banned in Ireland, and Jones had directed three of them (Personal Services, Monty Python's Life of Brian, and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life).
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0093727}}
- {{Mojo title|personalservices}}
- {{Rotten Tomatoes|personal_services}}
{{Terry Jones}}
Category:1980s biographical films
Category:British biographical films
Category:Films about prostitution in the United Kingdom
Category:Films directed by Terry Jones
Category:Films scored by John Du Prez
Category:British independent films
Category:Films produced by Tim Bevan
Category:1980s English-language films