Withnail and Me
For those of you who don’t know the film depicts the lives and misadventures of two “resting” (well there struggling to pay the heating bill and unemployed) young actor friends in 1969 London. They are the flamboyant alcoholic Withnail and “I” (named “Marwood” ) as his more level-headed, anxiety-prone friend and the movie’s narrator. Withnail sets the tone for the friendship, with Marwood going along with whatever Withnail wants to do. They live in a filthy Georgian flat in Camden Town. While they wait for a part, daily life revolves around getting coins to use in the meters that provide gas or electricity, going to collect Social Security payments, and waiting for the pubs to open so they can sit somewhere warm alongside being able to drink.
We’ve all been there, well i have been! In a near tantum for fine wine in a shite rural pub, I know it’s a tea room in the film, but you know! My fixation in the film is Richard E Grants portrayal of Withnail. The character is filled with indignation over life’s injustices, despite his privileged background. He “rages against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” all the more because he blames others for the adverse consequences of his exuberant arrogance and habitual lying. Throw in delusions of grandeur and drunken flights of fancy and you have the darker side of my boozy mind! Withnail is a great beromiter because you know you’ll never be that bad!
I’ll close with the interesting fact is that Withnail is shown drinking roughly nine and a half glasses of red wine, half a pint of cider, one shot of lighter fluid (vinegar or overproof rum are common substitutes if your playing the drinking game that is), two and a half shots of gin, six glasses of sherry, thirteen glasses of whisky and half a pint of ale. It may be presumed that this quantity of alcohol, if consumed during the course of the film, would prove fatal
