Relative Values

Synopsis

Eric Styles' adaptation of Noel Coward's Relative Values marks Julie Andrews' first screen role for eight years. Andrews stars as the Countess of Marshwood who puts on a brave face when her son brings home a brash American movie star he plans to marry.



Andrews was immediately drawn to the script as she had known Coward personally. "He was a dear friend of mine," she explains. "I have sung many of his songs and always been a great admirer of his work. I was also very impressed with Eric's debut film, Dreaming Of Joseph Lees, and thought he might be an interesting young man to work with. I also love the period the film is set in. It embodies that true 1950s glamour."



British writers Paul Rattigan and Michael Walker acquired the rights to Relative Values from the Coward Estate in 1996. Overseas FilmGroup and British producer Chris Milburn boarded the project at Cannes the following year. Styles, with whom Milburn was working at the time on Joseph Lees, agreed to direct.



"Most of my work had been more gritty and realistic, so making a film about this crazy, implausible situation happening in a country house in Kent with aristocrats in the 1950s was a wonderful challenge," says Styles. "The film works for a contemporary audience because the madness of the whole situation is so appealing."



Relative Values shot for 10 weeks at the end of last summer on location on the Isle of Man, which stood in for Kent. It opened in the UK in July.

Details

Year

2000

Type of film

Features

Director

Eric Styles

Music

John Debney.

Dir

Eric Styles.

Exec prods

Steven Christian, Chris Harris.

Prod

Chris Milburn.

Scr/assoc prods

Paul Rattigan, Michael Walker.

DoP

Jimmy Dibling.

Prod des

Humphrey Jaeger.

Eds

Caroline Limmer, Ian Seymour.

Main cast

Julie Andrews, Sophie Thompson, Edward Atterton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, William Baldwin.

Budget

£2.9m

Funding

Overseas FilmGroup, Isle of Man Film Commission.

Genre

Production status

Complete

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Last updated 24th June 2005