My Beautiful Laundrette

My Beautiful Laundrette
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Frears
Produced by	Tim Bevan Sarah Radclyffe
Written by	Hanif Kureishi
Starring	Gordon Warnecke Daniel Day-Lewis Saeed Jaffrey Roshan Seth
Music by	Ludus Tonalis
Cinematography	Oliver Stapleton
Editing by	Mick Audsley
Studio	Working Title Films
Distributed by	Mainline Pictures
Release date(s)	November 16, 1985 (1985-11-16)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English Urdu
Budget	£650,000
Box office	$2,451,545

My Beautiful Laundrette is a 1985 British comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The story is set in London during the period when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as shown through the complex—and often comical—relationships between members of the Asian and White communities. The plot tackles many polemical issues, such as homosexuality, racism, and Britain's economic and political policy during the 1980s.

Plot

Omar (Gordon Warnecke) is a young man living in 1980s London. His father, Hussein (Roshan Seth), is a Pakistani journalist who lives in London but hates Britain and its international politics. His dissatisfaction with the world and a family tragedy has caused his alcoholism to take over, so that Omar has to take care of him. By contrast, Omar's paternal uncle Nasser is a successful entrepreneur and an active member of the London Pakistani community. Omar's father asks his uncle to give him a job and, after working for a brief time as a car washer in one of his uncle's garages, he is assigned the task of running a run-down laundrette and turning it into a profitable business.

At Nasser's, Omar meets a few other members of the Pakistani community: Tania (Rita Wolf), Nasser's daughter and possibly a future bride; and Salim (Derrick Branche), who traffics drugs and hires him to deliver them from the airport. While driving Salim and his wife home that night, the three of them get attacked by a group of right-wing extremists shouting racist slogans. Among them, Omar recognizes an old friend of his, Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis). Omar asks Johnny to resume their friendship. Johnny decides to help with the laundrette and they resume a romantic relationship which (it is implied) had been interrupted after school. Running out of money, Omar and Johnny sell one of Salim's drug deliveries to make cash for the laundrette redecoration.

The laundrette becomes a success. At the opening day, Nasser visits the store with his mistress, Rachel (Shirley Anne Field). They dance together in the laundrette while Omar and Johnny are having sex in the back room. Omar and Johnny are almost caught by Nasser, but Omar claims they were sleeping. Tania confronts Rachel about having an affair with her father, Nasser. Nasser and Rachel leave the laundrette and fight, Rachel storms off. She later falls ill with a skin rash apparently caused by a potion made by his wife, and decides to leave him.

Omar proposes to Tania, but she decides to leave. She drops by and asks Johnny to go away with her; he refuses because he does not want to leave Omar, and she departs. Omar's father also stops by and appeals to Johnny to persuade Omar to go to college, unhappy with his son running a laundrette. Omar decides to take over two laundrettes owned by a friend of Nasser, with the help of Salim. Salim drives Johnny and Omar to view one of the properties, and he expresses his dislike of the British non-working punks. Salim attempts to run over the group of punks who had previously attacked Omar's car and injures one of them. The group of working class punks decide to wait for Salim around the laundrette. They ambush and attack him, until Johnny decides to save him, despite their mutual dislike.

The film cuts to Nasser visiting Omar's father, and their discussion about Omar's future. Nasser sees Tania at a train platform while she is running away. Meanwhile, Johnny's friends decide to attack him for supporting the Pakistani community, and beat him savagely until he is saved by Omar. Omar proceeds to clean up his wounds, and the two bond. The film ends with them playfully splashing each other with water while topless, implying they are continuing their relationship.

Cast

• Daniel Day Lewis as Johnny
• Gordon Warnecke as Omar Ali
• Saeed Jaffrey as Nasser Ali
• Roshan Seth as Hussein Ali
• Derrick Branche as Salim N. Ali
• Rita Wolf as Tania N. Ali
• Souad Faress as Cherry N. Ali
• Richard Graham as Genghis
• Shirley Anne Field as Rachel
• Stephen Marcus as Moose

Production

My Beautiful Laundrette was Frears' fifth feature film. Originally shot for television, it was later released in cinemas and eventually became his first international success.

My Beautiful Laundrette marked the first time Oliver Stapleton was in charge of the cinematography in one of Frears' projects. He would later become one of the director's most consistent collaborators. This film was also one of the first films released by Working Title Films.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ludus Tonalis and produced by Stanley Myers and Hans Zimmer. Non-original music included the waltz Les Patineurs, by French composer Emile Waldteufel, and excerpts from Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

Awards

My Beautiful Laundrette was nominated in 1987 for a single Academy Award – Best Original Screenplay, by Hanif Kureishi. It lost to Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters. Kureishi was also nominated for a 1986 BAFTA award. The screenplay received an award from the American National Society of Film Critics.

See also

• London in film

External links

• My Beautiful Laundrette at the Internet Movie Database
• My Beautiful Laundrette at Box Office Mojo
• My Beautiful Laundrette at Rotten Tomatoes
• Chicago Sun-Times Review: Roger Ebert