Giving Tongue (1996)

 

Today's entry is an ultimately interesting little film that, in its own unexpected way, reminds me just a little of The Thick of It.  I suppose maybe anything dealing with British politics is bound to draw that comparison for me in the near future, especially something that features PC.  I don't know though, something about the way huge issues conflagrate from such tiny sparks.

 

Jessie Fielding, a newly-elected MP in the House of Commons, sets out to make her mark with an anti-hunting bill.  The measure starts a storm of controversy, particularly in the House of Lords, where the peers love a good old horses-'n'-hounds foxhunt.  As Jessie is riding high on her success, someone from her past returns to her life, a woman who knows more than a few secrets about Jessie that could jeopardize the bill.

 

PC plays Duncan Fielding, Jessie's husband.  Practical, legal-minded, and slightly hypochondriac, Duncan comes across as a generally nice guy who's at least as much of a political advisor as he is a spouse.  As rumors and whiffs of scandal start appearing around Jessie, he steps up to face the challenge head-on.

 

I don't have a ton to say about this role.  PC does well enough; Duncan is sort of blandly likable, which it seems he's supposed be, and the small, almost fussy mannerisms that crop up from time to time flesh him out beyond a mere “loyal husband” archetype.  Still, there's not much meat here.

 

I have to say – one of the best parts of the movie, for me, is a pair of House clerks who are evidently the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of Parliament.  Their entire professional day consists of carrying bills between the Houses of Commons and Lords, but from the way they talk about it, you'd think England would fall without them.  Love it!

 

Accent Watch

 

I'm going to say Scottish.  It was hard to tell – I thought I was picking up hints of something else, maybe RP, but if it was, there was way too much Scottish bleeding through for it to work.  I'll give PC the benefit of the doubt and say it was meant to be Scottish.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  It's very small and extremely British, but I liked it.  

 

PC-wise – Not necessarily.  While he does a fine job, there's just not a lot to it.

 

Warnings

 

A little swearing, brief nudity, and a disturbing scene of hunting violence.