I love this movie so much

Just perfect...

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

"Peter's Friends" can be seen as a British version of "The Big Chill". Like the American film, it deals with a group of old university friends meeting up several years after graduating. In 1982 Peter, Andrew, Roger, Mary, Sarah and Maggie were all members of Cambridge University student comedy troupe. In 1992 Peter, the son of an aristocratic family, invites his friends to celebrate New Year at the stately home he has recently inherited from his father. Joining the party are Sarah's boyfriend Brian and Andrew's American film star wife Carol. Roger and Mary are now married to one another; Peter and Maggie are still single (although Maggie, it turns out, nurses an unrequited passion for Peter).As the weekend progresses, we learn more about the members of the group and the secrets which some of them are hiding. It becomes clear that Roger and Mary have recently suffered some great misfortune, but the nature of this is only gradually revealed. The first great shock comes when the audience discover that Brian is in fact married with a son and is cheating on his wife with Sarah. Thereafter the revelations come thick and fast, the final one, involving Peter himself, coming right at the end.The comedy troupe was obviously based on the famous "Footlights" to which cast members Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery all belonged, although the rather naff sketch we see them performing might indicate why none of the fictitious characters, unlike their real- life counterparts, have gone on to become professional comedians. Scriptwriter Martin Bergman was also a former Footlight; he wrote the script together with his wife, Rita Rudner, who also plays Carol. (Perhaps I should declare an interest. I myself was a Cambridge contemporary of some of the cast, and knew Stephen Fry personally).A film like this one could easily have ended up as little more than a country-house soap opera for intellectuals. That it does not is due partly to Bergman and Rudner's literate script and partly to the skill of the cast members. In 1992 several of these were known mainly as comedians, or at least as comic actors, but although there are moments of humour, this is more a character study than a comedy. There are no stars; this is very much an example of ensemble acting. Special mention should go to Stephen Fry as the kindly but haunted Peter, Kenneth Branagh (who also directed and produced) as the recovering alcoholic Andrew, struggling to cope with the demands of his Hollywood writing career and with marriage to the tempestuous Carol, Branagh's then wife Emma Thompson as the frumpy Maggie, Tony Slattery as the arrogant, bumptious Brian and Alphonsia Emmanuel (an actress I have not heard much of recently) as Sarah. There is a nice contrast between Hugh Laurie's Roger and Imelda Staunton's Mary, both recovering from their shared tragedy but in very different ways."Peter's Friends" is in many ways a very British film, just as "The Big Chill" was very American. Although it involves strong emotions, several of the characters deal with them with a typical British reserve and "stiff upper lip"; this is particularly true of Peter himself, Roger and Maggie, and to some extent of Andrew, although he loses his stiff upper lip when under the influence of alcohol. It does not have the overtly political content of "The Big Chill", although it does deal with a broadly similar theme, the way in which youthful idealism can be corroded by the harsh experiences of adult life. One of the best psychological dramas of the nineties. 8/10

Peter's Friends is directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film stars Stephen Fry, Kenneth, Branagh, Imelda Staunton,Alphonsia Emmanuel,Hugh Laurie,Emma Thompson,Phyllida Law, Tony Slattery and Rita Rudner.A group of university friends come together again after several years apart, when they are invited to a New Year Eve party at the home of Peter(Stephen Fry).Andrew (Kenneth Branagh)brings his actress wife Carol(Rita Rudner),the pair are drifting apart but don't seem to want to acknowledge that fact.Roger and Mary(Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton)have married and have suffered the recent tragedy of the death of one of their twins, Mary is now constantly worried about the other one and can never relax because she is convinced something bad will happen him.Funny,sex crazed Sarah(Alphonsia Emmanuel)brings her boyfriend Brian(Tony Slattery). There's also the shy and awkward Maggie (Emma Thompson)who's struggling with her romantic feelings for Peter.Over delicious food the gang realise they never want to lose touch again, especially when Peter reveals some devastating news about himself.It's easy to see why some people refer to this as a British Big Chill but unlike that film this one has some weaknesses. Many of these characters seem very self centred, particularly Andrew and Branagh spoils the pivotal revelation scene near the end with his over the top cringe inducing drunken crying. This should have been a deeply moving scene(it is up until Andrew cries)but Branagh went so over the top that it becomes laughable and it shouldn't be.It has it's moments though and has a fantastic soundtrack. It also always gives me a craving for a roast dinner. An enjoyable film about friendship and love, funny and touching this is one to watch.

I love all the actors in this film, and the idea of them all still being friends after so many years was nice but I sometimes thought the acting was weak in parts and the ending was quite anti-climatic. I won't post the ending, but for those who have seen his "secret" was yes, a huge secret, but I was expecting more about it. Like a follow up or something.Also I think Hugh Laurie didn't have a big enough part, and there was too much focus on some of the minor characters such as the American wife (can't remember her name) and the sex addict's boyfriend.But a great film, with classic British (and Fry) humour, and also a great sound track!

For those of us who have experienced countless "reunions" in our mature lives, there is much to recognize here. No matter what the year in real time, the more things change, the more they stay the same.This is basically an intelligent script. That is why I am reluctant to have to fault the director's overwrought interpretation as evidenced by a good deal of melodramatic interplay where understatement would be so much more effective. Only Kenneth Branagh manages to carry it off well, especially in the final scene. I was particularly annoyed by the waste of talent in making the character played by Emma Thompson something of a comic figure. The line "fill me with your babies" is an example of bathos rather than something antic or farcical. If read properly, it should evoke pity for someone who is only mildly neurotic and fully capable of mature insights -- as further scenes demonstrate.An audience expects greater depth from a serious play that has as its center the otherwise trite scenario of disparate guests coming together for a weekend in the country. Unless farce is intended, the laughs ought to come from wordplay, not pies in the face or anguished physical disintegration.Still, I like the idea of fresh characterizations that pop up from time to time like that of "Peter" as the centerpiece here.