Terry Jone's slightly raunchy comedy-drama is based on a woman named Christine (Julie Walters) chronicling her arise as the owner of a brothel whose clientele are the older male. Featuring a stand out performance by Walters and great supporting roles by Shirley Stelfox and Danny Schiller, Personal Services is a pretty amusing and honest depiction of sex and our obsessions with it. It's a bit of an odd one tonally; it does have moments that are really funny and the ending leaves you with a smile on your face (no pun intended) but there is a melancholic darkness that surrounds the film also. There's even a scene that flirts with being a suspense chiller; with Christine waking up to find someone has broken into her flat, someone left locked up in another room and the police on her doorstep. There's a comic payoff in the middle of the scene but then the clever part is keeping the suspense and humour rolling by adding another element to the mix that throws Christine into another predicament. I think the film as a whole struggles a bit with the mood balance which lessened my enjoyment overall but the three central performances are great and the writing for each character is really well done! Ultimately I think the message of the film is quite beautifully encapsulated in one moment; it's Christmas and all the regulars and workers gather at the brothel for a festive congregation. When they have their photo taken together, there's that rush of feeling that they all understand each other; they're consenting adults that have luckily found each other to fulfil their unique fetishes. Until the peace is disrupted by an unwelcome raid. If people aren't hurting each other and are in fact doing the opposite and bringing pleasure to their lives, why not leave them in peace I say! And I think that's what writer David Leland and Director Terry Jones were saying here
Review of Personal Services
Personal Services
(1987)
'But there's going to be a real life lesbian display first so bloody well cheer up.'
8 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers