Withnail and I (2001)(criterion.com)
criterion.com
Withnail and I (2001)
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/122-withnail-and-i
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While most would focus on Withnail and Danny's more on-the-nose moments, it's really Uncle Monty who steals every scene he features in.
In my opinion he is simply one of the most beautifully realised characters in all of comedy, his pompous and lugubrious Oxbridge eccentricities representing the last vestiges of a more genteel era that Withnail had just missed out on being a beneficiary of (Free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't).
I can't dispute that, in his impeccable introduction his most quotable moments (and delivery) arise, with the vainglorious delivery of his Hamlet monologue one of the most succinct and hilarious summations of a character in Cinema:
'It is the most shattering experience of a young man's life when one morning he awakes and quite reasonably says to himself, "I will never play the Dane."'
Ditto the magnificent upper-class eccentricity of his agrarian/sexual aspirations:
"I think the carrot infinitely more fascinating than the geranium. The carrot has mystery. Flowers are essentially tarts. Prostitutes for the bees. There is a certain je ne sais quoi - oh, so very special - about a firm, young carrot...Excuse me..."
However it is in his more maudlin moments where his dialogue - and the writing - truly shines, mourning the fin de siècle in his own way, with macabre little monologues hinting at his deep reserves of loss and despair.
'Oh my boys, my boys, we are at the end of an age! We live in a land of weather forecasts and breakfasts that set in, shat on by Tories, shovelled up by Labour, and here we are, we three; perhaps the last island of beauty... in the world'
My favourite however, has to be the little appendix to his anecdotes of Oxford and his 'sensitive crimes' in a punt with his poetry-reciting lover:
"I sometimes wonder where Norman is now. Probably wintering with his mother in Guildford. A cat, rain, Vim under the sink, and both bars on. But old now, old. There can be no true beauty without decay."
Sheer brilliance, with its fingerprints all over British Comedy almost 40 years on - with particular reference to the likes of Armando Ianucci, Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, David Mitchell/Robert Webb, and Richard Ayoade, covering movies like 'Submarine' and TV like 'Peep Show' and 'Spaced' most notably.
In my opinion he is simply one of the most beautifully realised characters in all of comedy, his pompous and lugubrious Oxbridge eccentricities representing the last vestiges of a more genteel era that Withnail had just missed out on being a beneficiary of (Free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't).
I can't dispute that, in his impeccable introduction his most quotable moments (and delivery) arise, with the vainglorious delivery of his Hamlet monologue one of the most succinct and hilarious summations of a character in Cinema:
'It is the most shattering experience of a young man's life when one morning he awakes and quite reasonably says to himself, "I will never play the Dane."'
Ditto the magnificent upper-class eccentricity of his agrarian/sexual aspirations:
"I think the carrot infinitely more fascinating than the geranium. The carrot has mystery. Flowers are essentially tarts. Prostitutes for the bees. There is a certain je ne sais quoi - oh, so very special - about a firm, young carrot...Excuse me..."
However it is in his more maudlin moments where his dialogue - and the writing - truly shines, mourning the fin de siècle in his own way, with macabre little monologues hinting at his deep reserves of loss and despair.
'Oh my boys, my boys, we are at the end of an age! We live in a land of weather forecasts and breakfasts that set in, shat on by Tories, shovelled up by Labour, and here we are, we three; perhaps the last island of beauty... in the world'
My favourite however, has to be the little appendix to his anecdotes of Oxford and his 'sensitive crimes' in a punt with his poetry-reciting lover:
"I sometimes wonder where Norman is now. Probably wintering with his mother in Guildford. A cat, rain, Vim under the sink, and both bars on. But old now, old. There can be no true beauty without decay."
Sheer brilliance, with its fingerprints all over British Comedy almost 40 years on - with particular reference to the likes of Armando Ianucci, Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, David Mitchell/Robert Webb, and Richard Ayoade, covering movies like 'Submarine' and TV like 'Peep Show' and 'Spaced' most notably.
Well said, piltdownman. Don't forget Harry Enfield, though!
"We've gone on holiday by mistake" is forever in my head.
[deleted]
The film is set (but not actually entirely filmed) in my home town of Camden. It still is a bit like that here - there's a guy I see occasionally walking around in a suit with a cat lying across his shoulders. Walking past, for example, the Dublin Castle which does feel like the type of place where someone might call you a 'perfumed ponce'. Also the final scene where they sit on a bench in the Regents Park is just by the old -lion- (edit wolf!) enclosure.
"Throw yourself into the road, darling, you haven't got a chance!"
"Throw yourself into the road, darling, you haven't got a chance!"
The drunk roaring about 'perfumed ponces' is none other than Daragh O'Malley, the fantastic second-fiddle to Sean Bean in the 'Sharpe' TV series, and voices the lawyer in Grim Fandango amongst other roles!
The family overall are well worth reading up on - his father was the Minister for Education who introduced free secondary education to Ireland, and his Mother was a muse of Patrick Kavanaghs and the subject of the famous ballad "On Raglan Road". His father Donogh, was even originally engaged to Richard Harris's sister, Audrey (who died during their engagement of leuekemia aged 21).
The family overall are well worth reading up on - his father was the Minister for Education who introduced free secondary education to Ireland, and his Mother was a muse of Patrick Kavanaghs and the subject of the famous ballad "On Raglan Road". His father Donogh, was even originally engaged to Richard Harris's sister, Audrey (who died during their engagement of leuekemia aged 21).
I think it was the wolf enclosure, along the north south path in the NE part of Regent's Park.
The Zoo has been rejigged since then, I attended the Danish Summer Fair just nearby every year, and used to pop out to say Hi to the wolves ('Hi hi ulve!') but they're now deeper in the zoo.
The Tigers are along by the Gibbons and the camels, on the boundary of the East - West path. Occasionally walking across Regent's Park you'll hear a loud roar.
I guess the US Ambassador who's residence is next door hears that a fair bit.
Back on topic.
Uncle Monty with his potted vegetables was bonkers. 'Flowers are tarts!'
The Zoo has been rejigged since then, I attended the Danish Summer Fair just nearby every year, and used to pop out to say Hi to the wolves ('Hi hi ulve!') but they're now deeper in the zoo.
The Tigers are along by the Gibbons and the camels, on the boundary of the East - West path. Occasionally walking across Regent's Park you'll hear a loud roar.
I guess the US Ambassador who's residence is next door hears that a fair bit.
Back on topic.
Uncle Monty with his potted vegetables was bonkers. 'Flowers are tarts!'
You're totally right, it was the wolves. I misremembered.
Monty was great - "Are you a sponge or a stone? Do you soak up new experiences?"
Monty was great - "Are you a sponge or a stone? Do you soak up new experiences?"
I find it impossible to reconcile Monty's character with the fact Richard Griffiths was only forty years old when he played him. Yes, forty. I'm 46 now but however old I get, Uncle Monty will forever remain the archetypal "batty older queen" in my head.
That is wild, yes - he's one of those actors that always seems about that age. He was 57 or so when the first Harry Potter was filmed.
In fact, I would like a Potter/Withnail mashup, with Harry looking confused and distraught while Withnail shouts "Have you been at the controls!!? I demand some booze!" at him.
In fact, I would like a Potter/Withnail mashup, with Harry looking confused and distraught while Withnail shouts "Have you been at the controls!!? I demand some booze!" at him.
“I voted Conservative”
There is a scene near the end where their dealer/friend/squatter rolls an enormous, conical joint, which he calls a "Camberwell Carrot."
I'm not from the UK and have been dying to know if there's more cultural nuance to that slang than name dropping a neighborhood.
I'm not from the UK and have been dying to know if there's more cultural nuance to that slang than name dropping a neighborhood.
I don't think there's any more to it than Danny's explanation in the film.
> I invented it in Camberwell and it looks like a carrot
> I invented it in Camberwell and it looks like a carrot
Bruce Robinson wrote most of Withnail in the Spread Eagle at the end of Albert St.
I love that you still call Camden a town, he he.
Although it's not a town it is "Camden Town"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_Town
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_Town
Battersea Power Station Station
I think they started referring to stations as Underground stations to avoid this:
https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/stop/940GZZBPSUST/battersea-power-st...
I think they started referring to stations as Underground stations to avoid this:
https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/stop/940GZZBPSUST/battersea-power-st...
Yes I know, I live in London.
Camden Town Town was swallowed by greater London quite a while, ago though!
Camden Town Town was swallowed by greater London quite a while, ago though!
One of my favourite movies. While being hysterical it has the melancholic undertone too. Surprised to see it listed on the front page here though.
Agreed, it's a wonderful film, filled with fun, craziness, and melancholy.
Just a week ago, Criterion re-released Withnail & I in 4K: https://awardswatch.com/criterion-collection-may-2025-brings...
Just a week ago, Criterion re-released Withnail & I in 4K: https://awardswatch.com/criterion-collection-may-2025-brings...
I have the Criterion Bluray from a few years back (which I guess without bothering to look is HD) and I thought it made it feel more like a TV movie. This may be a film that works better in standard def. Or it could just be what I'm used to.
Maybe check TV settings. If you have smooth frame or fake interpolation on, it automaticity switches films to 60fps, which creates this made for TV look.
Odd that the photo is Ralph Brown as Danny.
Although, if you look at this brief and rare Viv MacKerrell snippet[0], his performance is a lot more Danny than Withnail.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc5vCZTkY7g&t=1283s
Although, if you look at this brief and rare Viv MacKerrell snippet[0], his performance is a lot more Danny than Withnail.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc5vCZTkY7g&t=1283s
I recognized Ralph Brown's face from Wayne's World 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E62a_RCtX4
It's a funny scene.
It's a funny scene.
I love this movie. After I'd moved to the UK it was one of the first movies I watched with friends who are a gay couple and often reference how they are literally Withnail and Marwood.
Fun(?) fact - An actor that was supposed to play Marwood dropped out because they thought the film was homophobic.
Robinson originally wanted Paul McGann, but he insisted on using his own accent, resulting in Robinson firing him and getting somebody else in. Then the somebody else dropped out, and McGann came back with a new Home Counties accent.
Source: Some interview with Paul McGann I watched. No idea who the other actor was.
Robinson originally wanted Paul McGann, but he insisted on using his own accent, resulting in Robinson firing him and getting somebody else in. Then the somebody else dropped out, and McGann came back with a new Home Counties accent.
Source: Some interview with Paul McGann I watched. No idea who the other actor was.
Huh that's really interesting! As one of them gays myself, I can see what they mean. The scenes with Monty being a gay "sex pest" are a hurtful stereotype, but given the time it was made in there was much worse depictions of gays in media at the time.
To this day people seem to believe all gays are they feminine heeyyyyy type sex pests, whereas in reality the majority of us just regular dudes - hell I find most straight guys unattractive (not in looks, but definitely in behaviour).
To this day people seem to believe all gays are they feminine heeyyyyy type sex pests, whereas in reality the majority of us just regular dudes - hell I find most straight guys unattractive (not in looks, but definitely in behaviour).
If you liked Withnail & I, try "Naked" for the hard-edge & existential experience... you'll never forget "Naked" - it stays with you, for better or worse.
I still think about some scenes in Naked having only seen it once. It's brutal and uncomfortable at many points, and a brilliant film.
I was visiting Dalston, London and thought I recognised a certain house and sure enough it was the (at least exterior) filming location for "the" house in the film. It was characteristic enough to recognise even after one viewing.
I was visiting Dalston, London and thought I recognised a certain house and sure enough it was the (at least exterior) filming location for "the" house in the film. It was characteristic enough to recognise even after one viewing.
What an interesting read.
I have a friend who is just like Vivian. I'm sure that in an alternative universe their wasted talents of observational wit and caustic retorts would have made them a world class comic playwright.
"Here hair here". What a great film, also.
I have a friend who is just like Vivian. I'm sure that in an alternative universe their wasted talents of observational wit and caustic retorts would have made them a world class comic playwright.
"Here hair here". What a great film, also.
If you’re a fan of Withnail then this watch-along with Bruce Robinson is worth your time.
https://youtu.be/d4rZDnRXIkg?si=lzEBJwrmYoFXWRjB
https://youtu.be/d4rZDnRXIkg?si=lzEBJwrmYoFXWRjB
A truly great film, but always spoiled imho by the fans who won't stop quoting lines from it. The lines are funny because of the context, and delivery, chaps. As Wittenstein put it: raisins may be the best part of a cake, but a cake is much better than a bag of raisins...
I LOVE that film -- which, by the way, was made in 1987, not 2001.
The only time I've ever stood in line for an autograph photo at a con was for Paul McGann. My best friend's birthday was the following week, and while he's not a Doctor Who person, he IS the person who introduced me to Withnail. McGann was quite happy to inscribe a photo of himself as the Doctor with a line of his from the film ("We've gone on holiday by mistake!").
The only time I've ever stood in line for an autograph photo at a con was for Paul McGann. My best friend's birthday was the following week, and while he's not a Doctor Who person, he IS the person who introduced me to Withnail. McGann was quite happy to inscribe a photo of himself as the Doctor with a line of his from the film ("We've gone on holiday by mistake!").
> was made in 1987, not 2001
I think it's the article that was published on Criterion in 2001, rather than when it was originally written.
I think it's the article that was published on Criterion in 2001, rather than when it was originally written.
I'm a fan of Paul McGann, but for his role in the much maligned Alien 3. There's just something that vibes with me about Alien 3.
I need to rewatch it now that I've got a bit more context as to what it's about.
I didn't "get it" the first go round.
It's seems to be a "slice of life" type movie, in that it depicts a particularly interesting and eventful time in the characters lives, as opposed to having any kind of narrative or story.
My favourite movies in that category is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Just fucking madness bounded by opening a closing credits.
Just a bunch of stuff that happened.
I didn't "get it" the first go round.
It's seems to be a "slice of life" type movie, in that it depicts a particularly interesting and eventful time in the characters lives, as opposed to having any kind of narrative or story.
My favourite movies in that category is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Just fucking madness bounded by opening a closing credits.
Just a bunch of stuff that happened.
> I didn't "get it" the first go round.
Same here—I missed it the first time around and found it pretty weird when I finally watched it.
But on a recent trip to the Lake District, we ended up visiting a bunch of the filming spots, including the infamous telephone box in Bampton (still around and in good condition).
That kind of changed how I saw the movie—it started to feel more like a bunch of odd little vignettes, each with its own strange charm. My partner and her family are big fans and talk about it all the time, so it’s slowly grown on me. Definitely not a “one sitting” kind of film.
Same here—I missed it the first time around and found it pretty weird when I finally watched it.
But on a recent trip to the Lake District, we ended up visiting a bunch of the filming spots, including the infamous telephone box in Bampton (still around and in good condition).
That kind of changed how I saw the movie—it started to feel more like a bunch of odd little vignettes, each with its own strange charm. My partner and her family are big fans and talk about it all the time, so it’s slowly grown on me. Definitely not a “one sitting” kind of film.
Now that I think about it, "Withnail & I" is to "The Young Ones" what "Fawlty Towers" was to "Monty Python": a more structured, less madcap, sadder, and more philosophical take, which is still hysterically funny.
in the era the film was influential I knew a few people who were like this Viv character and it seems like it's been long enough that the archetype bears some eulogizing. there's no romance in that kind of failure anymore.
the movie is the most literal romance of any character in a film ever. By any objective criteria, Withnail was a horrible person. Richard E. Grant's ability to be a living cartoon made it hilarious and charming and he let you suspend your disbelief in Withnail's grandeur and go along for the absurd ride. the important idea is that romance is seeing things as greater or more significant, (or just generally other) than they are. That's what Withnail and I was about.
He was harmless and funny because his manipulations were so low-stakes and geared to just getting alcohol for free, but you could see he drank and destroyed himself for the same reasons anyone does, because he knew all he had were the tools of a monster and just didn't know any other way to be.
The archetype is extinct today because the relationships it needed to survive are outmoded. someone being from your school or neighbourhood doesn't figure in our ideas of identity where you'd tolerate a loser with charming delusions because they were a fixture in your own story. Nobody's wives or girlfriends would tolerate them anyway, and I think we're all too mercenary now.
to me the sadness of the story is that it's a meditation on romance itself. it ends where you see Withnail as the volatile addicted animal he is, and he (or really, we as the audience) is slightly redeemed by his hamlet speech so as to be reminded that there was at least some truth to what we believed in about him, and that we ("I") weren't just decieved and manipulated. his grandeur dignified or at least rendered harmless our abuse. the original script doesn't provide that final bit of comfort, however.
maybe there's a version of that story for today, but I don't think a Withnail character could actually survive long enough socially to become interesting enough for anyone to find them romantic enough to tolerate.
the movie is the most literal romance of any character in a film ever. By any objective criteria, Withnail was a horrible person. Richard E. Grant's ability to be a living cartoon made it hilarious and charming and he let you suspend your disbelief in Withnail's grandeur and go along for the absurd ride. the important idea is that romance is seeing things as greater or more significant, (or just generally other) than they are. That's what Withnail and I was about.
He was harmless and funny because his manipulations were so low-stakes and geared to just getting alcohol for free, but you could see he drank and destroyed himself for the same reasons anyone does, because he knew all he had were the tools of a monster and just didn't know any other way to be.
The archetype is extinct today because the relationships it needed to survive are outmoded. someone being from your school or neighbourhood doesn't figure in our ideas of identity where you'd tolerate a loser with charming delusions because they were a fixture in your own story. Nobody's wives or girlfriends would tolerate them anyway, and I think we're all too mercenary now.
to me the sadness of the story is that it's a meditation on romance itself. it ends where you see Withnail as the volatile addicted animal he is, and he (or really, we as the audience) is slightly redeemed by his hamlet speech so as to be reminded that there was at least some truth to what we believed in about him, and that we ("I") weren't just decieved and manipulated. his grandeur dignified or at least rendered harmless our abuse. the original script doesn't provide that final bit of comfort, however.
maybe there's a version of that story for today, but I don't think a Withnail character could actually survive long enough socially to become interesting enough for anyone to find them romantic enough to tolerate.
This movie is absurdly good. And it seemed to leave a lasting mark for a while too. I love how the drug dealer in W&I got to play the same character and tell the same m&m's story in Wayne's World 2. "... and I beat the man with his own shoes..." chefs kiss
I still think of the Camberwell Carrot.
Amazing flick that just sticks with you for some reason - I wish we had more the these black comedies.
I was fortunate enough a number of years ago to see a re-screening of the film at a festival with Richard E. Grant present doing an interview at the event. We all smuggled cheap bottles of wine in and got arseholed rewatching it. Fantastic stuff.
The film is a wonderful tribute to his friend, and it has given me so much pleasure.
Silly movie, but had its moments:
> I don't advise a haircut, man.
> All hairdressers are in the employment of the government.
> Hair are your aerials.
> They pick up signals from the cosmos and transmit them directly into the brain.
> This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight.> We've gone on holiday by mistake.
"Balls. We want the finest wines available to humanity. We want them here, and we want them now!"
"Here Hare Here"
"I feel like a pig shat in my head."
"I don't advise a haircut, man. All hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hair are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos and transmit them directly into the brain. This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight."