Without question Richard Lester's most bizarre film I've seen to-date, The Bed-Sitting Room is a manic, absurdest black comedy which takes place in post-apocalyptic England, following the remaining survivors as they attempt to carry-on their everyday lives. Richard Lester's The Bed-Sitting Room is a comedy with very British sensibilities, sharing a lot in common with the work of Monty Python as it relies on absurdest and slap-stick humor to satirize aspects of society. Focusing on the fears on nuclear war sweeping England at the time, The Bed-Sitting Room imagines the world after a 2 1/2 minute holocaust has wiped out most of the country, documenting a slew of characters who attempt to go about their lives in a very similar way to before, regardless of the social structures of society being completely eviscerated by the nuclear holocaust. Long used to the institutions of modern society, Lester's film finds its characters become the institutions themselves, comically and ignorantly pretending to hold on to the same way of life in this barren landscape. One man who travels door to door, putting his head inside TV sets to broadcast the news is the BBC, another man provides all the electricity for the nation via bicycle, while the National Health Service is one simple doctor. Through quite comedic circumstance and absurdity, The Bed-Sitting Room seems to have something to say about mankind's reliance on the institutions of society and their need to carry on traditions, with much of the best comedic gags in the film being focused around the juxtaposition of British's mannered, elegant way of life with the brutal, tragic circumstances of these characters' living in a post apocalyptic society. The emotional core of the film, centered around two young lovers doesn't quite work, but their desire to participate in the traditions of domesticated life, such as marriage and children, certainly once again speaks to humanities' desire to hold on to tradition. If you remove all the absurdism, which mind you is easier said than done with this film, The Bed-Sitting Room is a rather dark narrative, focusing on the death a nuclear holocaust would bring, the radiation and potential mutation it could cause among survivors, and the general wickedness of the barren landscape. It's through Richard Lester's satirical and absurdest lens that he has managed to create a film that both warns about the perils of Nuclear War but also pokes fun as the fear which society has for these weapons of mass destruction. Featuring beautiful, surrealist production design, Richard Lester's The Bed-Sitting Room is a one-of-a-kind satire of the nuclear holocaust, being a film with a meandering narrative that cares more about satirical absurdest comedy and its thematic ideals centered around institutionalization and tradition, more so than narrative lynchpins.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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