This film is currently unavailable
The Fifty-seventh Saturday
Veteran character actor Ronald Fraser plays a middle-aged man trapped in the dull routine of his Saturday-afternoon love affair.
Director: Alan Clarke
Overview
Veteran comedic character actor Ronald Fraser (known in his later years as the ‘Lord of Love’ on TFI Friday) plays a middle-aged man who visits his younger lover ,Mavie (Frances White), every Saturday afternoon for the latest stultifying instalment of an illicit affair. But despite their grudging acceptance of the tryst's grubbiness, Mavie longs to develop their relationship along more conventional lines.
This highly perfunctory portrayal of a romantic affair could only come from the pen of a British writer, and it was author William Trevor who provided the script for this episode of Half Hour Story directed by Alan Clarke. The play was in fact a follow-up to an earlier instalment featuring the same characters, The Forty-Seventh Saturday, which appeared in print and as a radio story. Alan Clarke’s direction is notable for its frank and occasionally eccentric intimacy, featuring the kind of ‘up-the-nostril’ shots which contemporaneous TV critics found grating, but which demonstrate the director’s bold approach to the material.
Related
Rita, Sue and Bob Too Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Drama 1987 93 mins Director: Alan Clarke
A married man seduces two teenage babysitters in Alan Clarke’s mix of bawdy comedy and social comment, based on Andrea Dunbar’s Bradford plays.
Made in Britain Made in Britain
Drama 1982 76 mins Director: Alan Clarke
Tim Roth burst onto British screens with his coruscating performance as a teenage skinhead in this TV play from Alan Clarke and David Leland.
Shelter Shelter
Drama 1967 27 mins Director: Alan Clarke
Two strangers (Wendy Craig and Colin Blakely) come together in a park shelter and engage in a frank, confessional and confrontational conversation.
Goodnight Albert Goodnight Albert
1968 26 mins Director: Alan Clarke
Alan Clarke directs Roy Minton’s intimate play detailing the frank yet touching relationship between a brash young miner and his gran.
Rita, Sue and Bob Too Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Drama 1987 93 mins Director: Alan Clarke
A married man seduces two teenage babysitters in Alan Clarke’s mix of bawdy comedy and social comment, based on Andrea Dunbar’s Bradford plays.
Made in Britain Made in Britain
Drama 1982 76 mins Director: Alan Clarke
Tim Roth burst onto British screens with his coruscating performance as a teenage skinhead in this TV play from Alan Clarke and David Leland.
2073 2073
Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia
Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things
Biopic 2024 88 mins Director: Mark Cousins
A striking portrait of an artist deserving of greater recognition, directed by Mark Cousins (A Story of Film).
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Documentary 2024 150 mins Director: Johan Grimonprez
Johan Grimonprez’s involving film essay, anchored by the rhythm of American jazz, reveals disturbing truths about the decolonial struggle between global political powers.
No Other Land No Other Land
Documentary 2024 92 mins Director: Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham
This powerful documentary from a Palestinian-Israeli collective might be one of the most important films of this year.
Small Things Like These Small Things Like These
Drama 2024 99 mins Director: Tim Mielants
Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as a coal merchant who discovers horrific secrets about his local convent.
Only the River Flows Only the River Flows
Crime 2023 102 mins Director: Shujun Wei
Shujun Wei's slow-burn noir draws us inexorably into its mysterious psychological journey.