Educating Rita (film)

Educating Rita is a 1983 film about an alcoholic professor who has been hired by a working-class girl for higher education. Directed by Lewis Gilbert. Written by Willy Russell, based on his play. Sometimes students end up being the best teachers.  taglines Dr. Frank Bryant Found a culture, have you Rita? Found a better song to sing? No, you found a different song to sing, and on your lips it's shrill and hollow and tuneless. Did you know that Macbeth was a maggoty apple? Not many people know that! In reply to the question "Suggest how you would resolve the staging difficulties inherent in a production of Ibsen's Peer Gynt", you have written, quote: "Do it on the radio." Unquote. Susan "Rita" White I did join in the singing. But when I turned around, me mother had stopped singin', and she was cryin'. I said, 'Why are you cryin', Mother?' And she said, 'There must be better songs to sing than this.' And I thought, yeah - that's what I'm trying to do, isn't it? Sing a better song. Christ! Me customer! She's still under the dryer. She only wanted a demi-wave, she'll come out lookin' like a friggin' muppet! I'm beginning to find me. It's great. It is, you know, Frank. It might sound selfish, but all I want for the time being is what I'm finding inside me. Dialogue Rita's Father: How old are you now, Susan? Rita: [sarcastically] Seventy-four, Dad. Rita's Father: You're not, you're twenty-seven! Been married six years and you still haven't got a baby to show for it. Here's your sister, only two minutes married, and she's already four months pregnant. Rita's Father: Say, Denny. Denny, I'm sorry for you, lad. If she was a wife of mine I'd drown her. Rita: If I was a wife of yours I'd drown meself. Denny: Fellows in our family only have to look at a woman and she's pregnant. Rita: Oh, must be because you're all cockeyed. [Rita is being nosy about Frank's marriage] Dr. Frank Bryant: We split up, Rita, because of poetry. Rita: You what? Frank: One day, my wife explained to me that, for the past fifteen years, my output as a poet had dealt entirely with the part of our lives in which we discovered each other. Rita: Are you a poet? Frank: Was. And so, to give me something new to write about, she left me. A very noble woman, my wife - she left me for the good of literature. And remarkably it worked. Rita: What, you wrote a lot of good stuff, did ya? Frank: No. I stopped writing altogether. [Trish has just tried to kill herself; Rita goes to visit her in hospital] Rita: Why? Trish: Darling, why not? Rita: Oh, Trish, don't. Come on, it's all right, don't cry. You're still here. Trish: That's why I'm crying - it didn't work. It didn't bloody work. Rita: Trish. Look, you didn't really mean to kill yourself. You were just... Trish: Just what, darling? Poor Susan. You think you've got everything, don't you? Rita: Trish, you have. Trish: Oh yes. When I listen to poetry and music, then I can live. You see, darling, the rest of the time it's just me. And that's not enough. Customer in Hairdressers: Was that a book you're reading? Rita: Yeah, yeah. Customer in Hairdressers: What's it called? Rita: Oh, Of Human Bondage. Customer in Hairdressers: Yeah? My husband's got a lot of books like that. Rita: What, Somerset Maugham books? Customer in Hairdressers: Nooo. Bondage books! Frank: You really can't bear to spend a moment with me now, can you? Rita: Frank, that is not true. It's just that tonight, I've got to go to the theatre. Frank: As I was saying, if you want to stop coming... Rita: Oh, for Christ's sake, Frank, I don't want to stop comin'! I've got to keep comin'. What about me exam? Frank: Oh, I shouldn't worry about that. You'd, uh, sail through it anyway. You really don't have to put in the odd appearance out of sentimentality. I'd rather you spared me that. [he downs a glass of whiskey] Rita: If you could stop pouring that junk down your throat, in the hope that it'll make you feel like a poet, you might be able to talk about things that matter, instead of where I do and don't work. And it might actually be worth turnin' up. Collins: Doctor Bryant, I don't think you're listening to me. Frank: Mr. Collins, I don't think you're saying anything to me. Collins: Doctor, are you drunk? Frank: Drunk? Of course I'm drunk. You don't really expect me to teach this when I'm sober. Collins: [angrily bundling his books together] Then you won't mind if I leave your tutorial. Frank: Why should I mind? Brian: Yes, well, apparently you were a little... drunk at your tutorial today. Frank: No. Brian: No? Frank: No. I was a lot drunk. Brian: Oh, Frank, why do you do it? When you've got... well, what haven't you got? Frank: A drink at the moment. [Frank has just been officially reprimanded for being drunk while giving a lecture] Frank: Sod them, eh, Rita! Sod them! Rita: Will they sack you? Frank: Good God no. That would involve making a decision. Pissed is all right. To get the sack, it would have to be rape on a grand scale. And not just with students, either. That would only amount to a slight misdemeanor. No, for dismissal it would have to be nothing less than buggering the Bursar. Rita: Do you think you did nothing for me? You think I just ended up with a load of quotes and empty phrases. Well, all right, I did. But that wasn't your doing. I was too hungry for it all. I didn't question anything. I wanted it all too much, so I wouldn't let it be questioned. Told you that I was stupid. Frank: You're not stupid. Rita: Listen, if I say I'm stupid, then I'm stupid, okay? So don't argue! [Rita discovers Frank packing all his books into crates] Rita: Have they sacked you? Frank: Not quite. Rita: Oh... Why are you packing your books up? Frank: Well, I made rather a night of it last night, so they're, uh... they're giving me a holiday. Two years in Australia. Rita: Did you bugger the Bursar? Frank: Metaphorically. Rita: I just... wanted to tell someone who'd understand. Frank: Rita, I am honored that you chose me. Frank: What does it say? Rita: Right. I've passed. Now will you get on that bloody plane? Frank: Let me see. You've passed with distinction. I'm proud of you, Rita. Rita: I'm proud of both of us. Taglines Sometimes students end up being the best teachers. A comedy about a teacher and a very memorable student. Cast Michael Caine - Dr Frank Bryant Julie Walters - Susan "Rita" White Michael Williams - Brian Dearbhla Molloy - Elaine Jeananne Crowley - Julia, Frank's girlfriend Malcolm Douglas - Denny White, Rita's husband Godfrey Quigley - Rita's father Patricia Jeffares - Rita's mother Maeve Germaine - Sandra, Rita's sister Maureen Lipman - Trish Kim Fortune - Collins External links 0085478 Educating Rita educating_rita Educating Rita Category:1983 films Category:British films Category:Comedy-drama films Category:Films based on plays Category:Films about educators Category:Films set at colleges and universities Category:Films about alcoholism Category:Films directed by Lewis Gilbert