Personal Service

This film has a preface that it is fiction, and though the writer David Leland was inspired by a book by Cynthia Payne - the infamous British Madam - this is not the story of Cynthia Payne. The disclaimer is repeated at the end, and then we see that the production consultant was Cynthia Payne. Perhaps there was a legal necessity for Madam Payne and the film-makers to provide this escape clause, since the film's madam, named Christine Painter, was charged with possessing obscene material for gain and running a brothel.

What makes this madam's brothel different is that Christine's clientele is gentlemen over 40 with a taste for kink, though the bondage and discipline we see is very mild. You would have to be extremely prudish to be offended by such behaviour. What makes these scenes so funny is how ordinary the customers are, which only reinforces the hypocrisy of the laws that consider prostitution a crime, and the insight the "tarts" have into men's sexuality. I loved the line "When the balls are full, the brain is empty", and the madam's argument that wives would never be wanting for anything as long as they kept their men "de-spunked".

As Christine, Julie Walters delivers a brilliant comic performance. She is a no-nonsense uppity woman, constantly in motion, who has never cared for sex but enters into the business for economic reasons. The ads posted in a shop window are deliberately double entendre-d eg large chest for sale, french polishing available. Walters looks surprising voluptuous here though as she becomes more successful she starts to resemble a drag queen. When she attends her sister's wedding, there is a confrontation scene with her father, and we see what a fool he is for not appreciating her.

Director Terry Jones came from the Monty Python group but it is to his credit that the humor is not juvenile or in poor taste. Walters does have an odd scene where she is suddenly in an exotic location and spying on a couple having sex, another where a revolving camera glorifies her romantic fantasies, and the circumstances of a missed "normal" date hint at that old chestnut that whores are doomed to die lonely. But overall the tone is light and positive. Special mention is made of Shirley Stelfox as the stern "Nanny", and Danny Schiller as the maid with an undetermined sex.

Very funny movie, one of my favorites. The entire cast was great but Julia Walters was excellent, as always. "Popazokaloo" should have become a household word, apparently not enough people saw the movie. The scene in the loo will make you laugh till you cry. I find it interesting that the men I know that have seen the movie don't find it as amusing as the women who have viewed it do. (Watch it and draw your own conclusions about my observation.)

beautifully acted, unexpectedly moving, hilarious, and at times very, very dirty, this film is "inspired by" the life of cynthia payne, one of the most notorious madame's in britain's history - julie walters is brilliant as a woman who evolves from a waitress struggling to make her rent, to a successful businesswoman running a brothel that caters only to "kinky sorts" - through all of it, she raises a son, forces her father to come to terms with the person his daughter has become, and has difficulty with the "charles and diana" ideal of love that she can never find for herself - perhaps the greatest quality of this film, though, is its ability to shock at every turn - just when you thought you'd seen just how honestly funny kinky sex can be, think again...

As a lifelong stickler for the correct dating of films this film is rather irksome, since although scheduled to be screened at the 1986 London Film Festival (and bearing that date in the credits) it didn't actually hit cinemas until early the next year due an injunction brought by Mary Whitehouse, which guaranteed it plenty of free publicity and ensured that it will always be dated 1987 in the reference books.

If it weren't for the portrait of Charles & Diana adorning one of the walls you'd take this film for one set in the fifties. Cynthia Payne's madam is described as "Catering strictly for the tastes of the older gentlemen", and one of several poignant moment is the Christmas party, which makes you realise how lonely and pathetic her clientele must really be.

Julie Walters is of course terrific, but Shirley Stelfox also deserves honourable mention as her business partner who goes about her business with an air of bored amusement. It ends with a wonderful sight gag, which may or not be in Miss Payne's imagination.

This film is a forgotten British Masterpiece, if only for its portrayal of something we still find difficult to come to terms with now in 2016. Everyone has a little inside them of what is shown here, awakening that, sometimes is beyond our own choices, but for us to begin to understand what makes people tick, this film really needs to be watched. There is a little nudity, but more important, there is good all round acting and a solid belief when you reach the end that your time has not been wasted. If you can indeed find a copy i fully recommend you open a bottle of wine, get out the popcorn, close the curtains, lock the door, put out the granny, and enjoy.