Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)

Directed by

Alan John Clarke

Genre

comedy film

Country

Australia, United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 35m

Rated

R

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 80 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two teenage schoolgirls in 1980s Bradford start a sexual affair with a married man. The film shows their lives and the consequences of this arrangement.

bleakdarkly comicgrittyrawuncomfortablegroundedprovocativemelancholic

What happens

Rita, Sue and Bob Too (stylised as Rita, Sue and Bob too!) is a 1987 British comedy-drama film directed by Alan Clarke and starring Michelle Holmes, Siobhan Finneran, George Costigan, and Lesley Sharp. Set in Bradford, West Yorkshire, it follows two teenage schoolgirls who end up having a sexual affair with a married man. It was written by Andrea Dunbar, who adapted the film from two of her stage plays: Rita Sue and Bob Too (1982) and The Arbor (1980), which were first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The plays were loosely based on Dunbar's experiences growing up in council housing in Buttershaw. The strapline of the film was "Thatcher's Britain with her knickers down." It met with polarised reactions at the time of its release, but has since become a cult hit for its depiction of working-class life in Britain during the 1980s. In 2017, it was given a digital restoration by the British Film Institute. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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