Behaving Badly

1989
6.3| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

Behaving Badly is a 1989 British television serial directed by David Tucker. The teleplay by Catherine Heath and Moira Williams is based on Heath's novel of the same name. It was initially broadcast by Channel 4. The series was released on DVD in 2005. The plot focuses on Bridget Mayor, a middle-aged housewife and part-time teacher who is forced to re-evaluate her life when her husband of twenty years abandons her for a younger woman.

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Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Artivels Undescribable Perfection
ThiefHott Too much of everything
Monkeywess This is an astonishing documentary that will wring your heart while it bends your mind
paloma54 Well, this is definitely a story with flaws, but I took it to be more of a work in the tradition of dry British comedy, and enjoyed it as such. It isn't quite light-hearted enough or fast-paced enough as comedy, but the situations are so clearly ridiculous, and one does so enjoy seeing the dirtbag husband placed in such awkward predicaments, I can't say I'm sorry to have watched it. Among the flaws are a serious miscasting of the part of Rebecca with Frances Barber. I am an admirer of Ms. Barber's acting, but frankly, she is simply too old for this part. Instead of looking at least 20 years younger than Judi Dench, she looks more like maybe only 10 years younger. And Ms. Barber has a rather worldly look about her (due to age, I suppose) that doesn't make the points this series attempts to make about age as clearly as it wants. All in all, I'd have to say this was an unbelievably poor mistake. The mother in law is rather tedious, but even so, she had her moments of the fantastic. I can understand that there are few people who would find this entertaining, but for what it's worth, I enjoyed it.
selffamily I started to watch this - I rented it and I'm not sure that I'm sorry. It is unbearably slow to start with, and as a previous comment has said, the mother-in-law was excruciating, so much so in fact that I started fast-forwarding her by the third installment; it didn't affect the story. (It's not as though there are no older women in the British film or television industry, who could act. The story was simple but silly - hard to imagine a middle-aged woman in such circumstances simply moving back to the marital home after five years; hard to imagine a hard-core black baptist church in Croydon (am I wrong? have I been away too long?) and hard to imagine a daughter as this one is; also that there was no autopsy on the old man? Well knitted all together, it begins to work by episode 3, to the extent that I wanted to see what happens. The ending is so improbable it's lovely. You know from discussion that it may not last, but she doesn't care. And neither did I. I think by then I was numb. This production was a bit of a conundrum - all these very clever people doing something so mediocre.
sheyenne I didn't have high expectations for this series to begin with. While it is true that the pacing is slower than As Time Goes By, and I didn't grapple too much on the dialogue as much as I did with ATGB. I found the pacing to just fit the storyline. The plot is not in a hurry to tell a dozen incidences of comic nature but rather delves on the inner psyche of a lonely person and how she is coming to terms with the reality and fighting her unhappiness. The storyline is simple, a middle-aged woman is divorced by her husband for another woman. She tries to make her single life work but is just too lonely to be alone. From moving in with her ex-husband and his lover and a very naggy mother-in-law to camping in her daughter's flat along with 4 other people to falling in love (or simply fancying the thought of "love") to a much younger man. In 4 episodes, we will see that it's not only Brigette (Judi Dench's character) that behaves badly. This little dark comedy series gives warmth and compassion to those who had been neglegted and had risen up to fight loneliness. And don't miss Joely Richardson who is absolutely incredible from her Nip/Tuck-sultry persona to playing this gawky, hypochondriachal pansy. A blast!
julian kennedy Behaving Badly: 1/10: I have a very high tolerance for cinematic pain. I'm willing to sit through almost anything. Heck forget Jar Jar Binks that's child's play, forget got some undubbed Japanese ghost story sans subtitles… cakewalk, forget some sixties experimental film feature two characters in a white room for six hours.Behaving badly broke me.I kept watching all the way through and it kept getting worse. I like Judi Dench but she is simply unwatchable in this. She plays a dowdy church mouse whose husband leaves her for a younger woman and she decides to think for herself. The choices that she makes are insane and distinctly unfunny.Ah the pain. Joey Richardson as the younger husband stealing harlot suffers from theater acting disease common in BBC productions but it's the grandmother/mother-in-law (Gwen Watford) that did me in. Gwen plays the most painfully irritating stereo type in television history. (Overbearing Jewish shrew that performs voodoo) Oh and the series features "kids" each more banal than the last. (The girl under going a nervous breakdown may send you to your own she is that contagious) Why the kids are even in this series is beyond me. (A younger demographic perhaps?) They are a Real World episode gone horrible wrong. Why is there a black American preacher/love interest? Why would anyone steal Judi Dench's husband? (He is such a wimpy cad and come with more baggage than the Howell's on Gilligan's Island.) In four episodes there is not one laugh. There is only confusion and pain. It is like a Mike Leigh sitcom.