Britannia Hospital

Lindsay Anderson, 1982

Summary

The final film of Anderson's satirical trilogy was based on real events that the director read about in the newspapers. For the third time, we meet the hero Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell), this time as an enterprising and inquisitive TV reporter who, along with other characters, spends a day at the 500th anniversary celebrations of the luxurious Britannia Hospital. While the attention of all the staff turns to the expected visit of the Queen Mother, the investigative journalist tries to find out the circumstances of Dr. Miller's mysterious genetic project. Nothing in the hospital works as it should, it's just a monstrous panopticon that wants to evoke a sense of normality at all costs. The hospital is also a metaphor for British society, plagued by various ills, functioning as an organism where noble ideas of democracy are simultaneously proclaimed and anti-human perversions are carried out. Anderson's story playfully and at times cynically references various genres of film (e.g. the horror episode with the mad doctor Miller), and the line of grotesque parable is supported by stylized acting. Malcolm McDowell does not eccentrically come to the fore this time, but becomes an equal partner of his colleagues.

Read more

Film data

About a film

Production year 1982
Countries United Kingdom
Duration 116 min
Director Lindsay Anderson
Cast Leonard Rossiter, Malcolm McDowell, Brian Pettifer
Director of photography Mike Fash
Editor Michael Ellis
Music Alan Price