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Based on John Lahr's biography of playwright Joe Orton, Prick Up Your
Ears was director Stephen Frears' first film after the surprise hit My Beautiful
Launderette (1985). While both films deal with a central gay relationship, Prick
Up Your Ears takes a less political approach to its subject matter, and a more
playful attitude to narrative and character.
Told largely in flashback, the story of Orton and Kenneth Halliwell's
tempestuous relationship is recounted through various interviews and entries
from Orton's notorious diaries. Rather than providing a thorough account of the
writer, Alan Bennett's script jumps back and forth in time, presenting an
episodic overview of the key elements in Orton's life. The structure is
deliberately elusive, creating a riddle from the scattered information provided,
primarily by Orton's agent, Peggy Ramsay.
The broader theme of homosexuality in 1960s Britain is dealt with in a
similarly teasing manner. One scene sees Orton jokingly mention to Kenneth that
he could be put in prison for "what they are doing", while the police make
occasional appearances at notorious 'cottaging' sites. But such references serve
to highlight the apparent excitement of clandestine gay encounters at a time
when homosexuality was still a criminal offence, commenting little on the
subjects of queer oppression and closeted homosexuality. Orton appears to revel
in his position of the outsider, and takes great joy in crude innuendo and the
graphic retelling of sexual trysts.
This refusal to offer a formal dissection of 1960s gay politics - with the
stuffy, sombre tone that might have entailed - alongside the film's elliptical
construction, has led several critics to celebrate Prick Up Your Ears' pervasive
'queerness' in both style and content.
Despite the tragic outcome of the central relationship, the film largely
downplays the potential for melodrama. Even in its closing acts, it opts for a
note of humour rather than the melancholy that might be expected, and concludes
on a pleasingly optimistic note.
The title was taken from Kenneth Halliwell's suggested name for Orton's
never-produced film with The Beatles. Orton rejected the idea, insisting, "this
is much too good a title to waste on a film".
Michael Blyth
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1. Shorthand diaries (3:42)
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