Tweet
2010
Strand Releasing
Dir. by Clio Barnard
The most unique aspect of The Arbor is brought to full attention in the first title screen of the movie, informing us that the actors in this film are all lip-syncing audio from the actual subjects they're portraying. The rest of the film plays out pretty evenly and uneventfully, though, and that's a bit of a shame, given its stark subject matter
The story of The Arbor is that of young Brit playwright Andrea Dunbar, the title coming from the same name as her first play. The film mixes in actual video from BBC presentations done on her story with the actors now in this film that are portraying her family members. Dunbar was only a teenager when she wrote that first play, using characters and events of her bleak existence in suburban England as the basis. This play meets with some success and she soon writes another, Rita, Sue and Bob, Too, which she soon after gets to write the screenplay for a film adaptation as well.
But Andrea is as troubled as her characters, having three kids - one with a Pakistani man that was still taboo in Andrea's England in the early 1980's - and being an alcoholic, gravitating toward abusive relationships that all combined to leave her feeling demoralized and unable to continue writing. A sudden embolism takes her one night at an all-too-young age and the kids are left on their own.
The film deals quite a bit with the kids in this aftermath, particularly Lorraine Dunbar, the half-Pakistani-born girl. Her sexual and drug abuse take up the core of the film, as if she's playing out one of her mother's characters, another creation left behind, unsolved and toxic. Rather than focusing on Andrea the film continues to let Lorraine tell her troubled tale and then seek out the effects it has on the rest of her family and her mother's family.
Extras
Thankfully, the film has English subtitles which greatly assist with the thick English accents of the characters. No other subtitling options are available, however. The Dolby Digital 2.0 score services the film well enough since the film is pretty dialog-heavy and hasn't much in the way of a score to strain its capabilities.
Strand Releasing includes the film's original theatrical trailer as well as trailers for other releases. A chapter menu is the only other extra available on this disc.
Summary
The tragic tale of a downtrodden life was the subject of Andrea Dunbar's plays. But she found focus and interest in the characters that played out their roles within them. Her own life clearly echoed her surroundings and impacted others as well and not all in good ways. Hers is a sad story that points to the cyclical nature of those on the fringes of modern society. And the world she holds up isn't made much better by it all but, rather, becomes clearer and has a voice.
