Christopher and His Kind (television film)
Encyclopedia
Christopher and His Kind is a 2011 BBC television film. It tells the story of Christopher Isherwood
's life in Berlin
in the early 1930s. The film was adapted by Kevin Elyot
from Isherwood's autobiography of the same title
, produced by Mammoth Screen
and directed by Geoffrey Sax
. Isherwood is played by Matt Smith, whilst the cast also includes Toby Jones
, Douglas Booth
, Imogen Poots
and Iddo Goldberg
.
in 1976, Christopher Isherwood
begins writing a memoir. The film flashes back
to 1931 as Christopher prepares to leave England for Germany, against the wishes of his mother Kathleen. On the train he meets Gerald Hamilton
, an English ne'er-do-well of Irish descent, who suggests that Christopher take a room at the boarding house where he lives. Upon his arrival in Berlin, Christopher meets his friend Wystan Auden
, who takes him to the Cosy Corner, a seedy gay club populated by hustlers
.
Christopher takes up residence at Gerald's boarding house under landlady Fräulein Thurau. There he becomes fast friends with Jean Ross
, an aspiring actress who sings at an underground club. He also begins a tumultuous affair with Caspar, one of the rentboys from the Cosy Corner. Their relationship continues until Caspar abruptly disappears. Christopher does not see him until many months later and is horrified to see that he has joined the Nazis.
To earn a living Christopher offers English lessons. One of his students is Wilfrid Landauer, the wealthy Jewish owner of a department store. He entreats Christopher to take a political stand against Nazism but Christopher, as an artist, initially demurs. Herr Landauer's home is ransacked by the Nazis and they lead a boycott against his and other Jewish-owned businesses. Christopher last sees Wilfrid when their eyes sorrowfully meet over a bonfire of books the Nazis are burning.
Heinz Neddermayer, a street sweeper whom Christopher espies from a café, enters Christopher's life and they fall in love. Frau Neddermeyer looks kindly upon Christopher but Heinz's brother Gerhardt, a Nazi sympathizer, detests him. When Frau Neddermayer enters a sanitorium for treatment of tuberculosis, Gerhardt angrily advises Heinz that Christopher and Jean are no longer welcome in his home.
Bobby Gilbert, the American steel heir whom Jean had been courting to take her to Hollywood, departs Berlin suddenly, leaving Jean bereft and pregnant. She pawns her jewelry to pay for an abortion and soon after leaves Berlin as well.
With the Nazis gaining in power, Christopher and Heinz decide to leave Berlin. They travel to England and Christopher tries to secure permanent residency in England for Heinz. Their hopes are dashed, however, when a passport officer denies Heinz a permit to remain in the country. The couple decides to travel around Europe, avoiding a return to Germany.
Several years later Jean and Christopher chance upon each other in an outdoor café in England. They reminisce and he tells her that Heinz was eventually arrested and sentenced to prison, followed by a stint in the Army. Jean confides that she does not miss Berlin.
The scene shifts to 1952. Christopher has returned to Berlin for the first time since 1934, to write a magazine article. He reunites with Heinz, who following the partition of the city ended up in East Berlin
. He has married and has a son named Cristoph. Heinz expresses his wish that Christopher should find a family of his own and suggests that he and his family could come to America and become Christopher's family as well. Christopher refuses to commit to the idea but promises to remain in contact with Heinz. He visits his old boarding house for a joyful reunion with Fräulein Thurau, who ended up in the American sector of the city. She presents him with the dolphin clock that adorned his old room, exhorting him to look at it and remember happy times.
Closing titles convey that the next year, 1953, Christopher met Don Bachardy
and the two remained together until Isherwood's death. Christopher and His Kind was published in 1976 and Heinz, shocked at its frankness, never communicated with Christopher again.
, Northern Ireland
. Members of the Ulster Unionist Party
protested the filming because of the large swastika
banners hung from buildings during the production. As a result, scenes with the banners could only be shot early in the morning or late at night. To research the role, Matt Smith read Isherwood's novels, watched video footage of Isherwood and traveled to the United States to meet Isherwood's longtime companion, Don Bachardy. "Just seeing the love Don had for him, and to be in the space where Christopher had lived and written was very informative." Because of its interest in Smith as the Eleventh Doctor
in the Doctor Who
franchise, the BBC
issued strict instructions that Smith was not to appear completely nude in the film. Said director Geoffrey Sax, "They told me I must not show Doctor Who’s bare bottom. They were quite firm about that, even though Matt was playing an entirely different character. They have invested a lot in him as the 11th Doctor and were due to make a second series with him, so they were obviously anxious to protect their property. So I said: 'OK, you won’t see his bare behind.'"
The dolphin clock that appears in the film is the actual clock that was in Isherwood's room in Berlin. Don Bachardy lent it to the production.
strongly praised Christopher and His Kind, citing an excellent performance from Smith, whom he calls "appealingly rakish, thoroughly disreputable, charming, posh, clever and funny" and compares favorably to John Hurt
's performances as Quentin Crisp
. He similarly praised several of the other performers and applauded the film for its masterful evocation of its time period, finally concluding, "Brilliant, top drama, well done."
Michael Hogan for The Sunday Telegraph concurred in this assessment, calling the film "handsomely shot, lovingly recreating the period, but with a twinkling, tongue-in-cheek feel – not to mention some lusty sex scenes – that stops it becoming too misty-eyed". He echoed the kudos for the performances from Smith and the supporting cast.
Less impressed was John Lloyd for the Financial Times
who found the gay sex scenes discomfiting. Additionally he thought that the acting was not intense enough, finding the scenes between Christopher and his mother to be the most effective. The film, he concluded, "wasn’t great but it was bravely done, all the same".
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
's life in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in the early 1930s. The film was adapted by Kevin Elyot
Kevin Elyot
Kevin Elyot is a British playwright and screenwriter. His most notable works include the play My Night with Reg and the film Clapham Junction.-Sources:*-External links:...
from Isherwood's autobiography of the same title
Christopher and His Kind
Christopher and His Kind is a 1976 memoir by the British author Christopher Isherwood, covering the period 1929 to 1939 and principally covering his years in Berlin. Isherwood's real-life experiences during this period formed the basis of his novel Goodbye to Berlin.It was adapted for television in...
, produced by Mammoth Screen
Mammoth Screen
Mammoth Screen is a UK based independent production company that was established in 2007 by Michele Buck and Damien Timmer. It produces high quality drama for key UK broadcasters, especially ITV, and international distribution.- Forthcoming productions :...
and directed by Geoffrey Sax
Geoffrey Sax
Geoffrey Sax is a British film and television director, who has worked on a variety of critically acclaimed and popular drama productions in both the UK and the United States....
. Isherwood is played by Matt Smith, whilst the cast also includes Toby Jones
Toby Jones
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
, Douglas Booth
Douglas Booth
Douglas Booth is an English actor.Booth rose to prominence following his portrayal of Boy George in the BBC Two television drama Worried About the Boy. He has more recently appeared in Christopher and His Kind...
, Imogen Poots
Imogen Poots
Imogen Gay Poots is an English actress, best known for playing Tammy in the 2007 film 28 Weeks Later, Prue Sorenson in the 2010 remake of the controversial TV drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire and as Jean Ross in the BBC's Christopher and His Kind.-Early life:Poots was born in Hammersmith, London,...
and Iddo Goldberg
Iddo Goldberg
Iddo Goldberg is an English-Israeli actor.Goldberg was born in Haifa, Israel. He has had several notable roles, including playing Ben on the television show Secret Diary of a Call Girl. He also appeared in the 2008 war film Defiance, starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.-Actor:-External links:...
.
Plot
In Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1976, Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
begins writing a memoir. The film flashes back
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
to 1931 as Christopher prepares to leave England for Germany, against the wishes of his mother Kathleen. On the train he meets Gerald Hamilton
Gerald Hamilton
Gerald Bernard Francis Hamilton was a memoirist, critic and internationalist.-Life:Born in Shanghai in the 1880s, but educated at England's Rugby School, he counted amongst his friends such notables as Winston Churchill, Aleister Crowley, Robin Maugham, Tallulah Bankhead and Christopher Isherwood,...
, an English ne'er-do-well of Irish descent, who suggests that Christopher take a room at the boarding house where he lives. Upon his arrival in Berlin, Christopher meets his friend Wystan Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
, who takes him to the Cosy Corner, a seedy gay club populated by hustlers
Male prostitution
Male prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual acts for money. Compared to female sex workers, male sex workers have been far less studied by researchers, and while studies suggest that there are differences between the ways these two groups look at their work, more research is needed.Male...
.
Christopher takes up residence at Gerald's boarding house under landlady Fräulein Thurau. There he becomes fast friends with Jean Ross
Sally Bowles
Sally Bowles is a fictional character created by Christopher Isherwood. She originally appeared in Isherwood's 1937 novella Sally Bowles published by Hogarth Press. The story was later republished in the novel Goodbye to Berlin...
, an aspiring actress who sings at an underground club. He also begins a tumultuous affair with Caspar, one of the rentboys from the Cosy Corner. Their relationship continues until Caspar abruptly disappears. Christopher does not see him until many months later and is horrified to see that he has joined the Nazis.
To earn a living Christopher offers English lessons. One of his students is Wilfrid Landauer, the wealthy Jewish owner of a department store. He entreats Christopher to take a political stand against Nazism but Christopher, as an artist, initially demurs. Herr Landauer's home is ransacked by the Nazis and they lead a boycott against his and other Jewish-owned businesses. Christopher last sees Wilfrid when their eyes sorrowfully meet over a bonfire of books the Nazis are burning.
Heinz Neddermayer, a street sweeper whom Christopher espies from a café, enters Christopher's life and they fall in love. Frau Neddermeyer looks kindly upon Christopher but Heinz's brother Gerhardt, a Nazi sympathizer, detests him. When Frau Neddermayer enters a sanitorium for treatment of tuberculosis, Gerhardt angrily advises Heinz that Christopher and Jean are no longer welcome in his home.
Bobby Gilbert, the American steel heir whom Jean had been courting to take her to Hollywood, departs Berlin suddenly, leaving Jean bereft and pregnant. She pawns her jewelry to pay for an abortion and soon after leaves Berlin as well.
With the Nazis gaining in power, Christopher and Heinz decide to leave Berlin. They travel to England and Christopher tries to secure permanent residency in England for Heinz. Their hopes are dashed, however, when a passport officer denies Heinz a permit to remain in the country. The couple decides to travel around Europe, avoiding a return to Germany.
Several years later Jean and Christopher chance upon each other in an outdoor café in England. They reminisce and he tells her that Heinz was eventually arrested and sentenced to prison, followed by a stint in the Army. Jean confides that she does not miss Berlin.
The scene shifts to 1952. Christopher has returned to Berlin for the first time since 1934, to write a magazine article. He reunites with Heinz, who following the partition of the city ended up in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
. He has married and has a son named Cristoph. Heinz expresses his wish that Christopher should find a family of his own and suggests that he and his family could come to America and become Christopher's family as well. Christopher refuses to commit to the idea but promises to remain in contact with Heinz. He visits his old boarding house for a joyful reunion with Fräulein Thurau, who ended up in the American sector of the city. She presents him with the dolphin clock that adorned his old room, exhorting him to look at it and remember happy times.
Closing titles convey that the next year, 1953, Christopher met Don Bachardy
Don Bachardy
Donald Jess "Don" Bachardy is an American portrait artist. He resides in Santa Monica, California.- Life and work :Born in Los Angeles, California, Bachardy was the life partner of writer Christopher Isherwood, whom he met on Valentine's Day 1953, when he was 18 and Isherwood was 48. They...
and the two remained together until Isherwood's death. Christopher and His Kind was published in 1976 and Heinz, shocked at its frankness, never communicated with Christopher again.
Cast
- Matt Smith as Christopher IsherwoodChristopher IsherwoodChristopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
- Toby JonesToby JonesToby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
as Gerald HamiltonGerald HamiltonGerald Bernard Francis Hamilton was a memoirist, critic and internationalist.-Life:Born in Shanghai in the 1880s, but educated at England's Rugby School, he counted amongst his friends such notables as Winston Churchill, Aleister Crowley, Robin Maugham, Tallulah Bankhead and Christopher Isherwood,... - Pip CarterPip Carter-Career:Before starting his professional career, Carter trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he appeared in productions of The Cosmonaut's Last Message..., Platonov, In The Jungle of Cities, The Good Soldier and Assassins....
as W. H. AudenW. H. AudenWystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also... - Douglas BoothDouglas BoothDouglas Booth is an English actor.Booth rose to prominence following his portrayal of Boy George in the BBC Two television drama Worried About the Boy. He has more recently appeared in Christopher and His Kind...
as Heinz Neddermayer - Imogen PootsImogen PootsImogen Gay Poots is an English actress, best known for playing Tammy in the 2007 film 28 Weeks Later, Prue Sorenson in the 2010 remake of the controversial TV drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire and as Jean Ross in the BBC's Christopher and His Kind.-Early life:Poots was born in Hammersmith, London,...
as Jean RossSally BowlesSally Bowles is a fictional character created by Christopher Isherwood. She originally appeared in Isherwood's 1937 novella Sally Bowles published by Hogarth Press. The story was later republished in the novel Goodbye to Berlin... - Tom WlaschihaTom Wlaschiha- Biography :Born in Dohna , Wlaschiha followed his Abitur with acting training at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig from 1992 to 1996, and attended the Conservatoire pour les Arts Liège in 1994....
as Gerhardt Neddermayer - Alexander Doetsch as Caspar
- Issy Van RandwyckIssy Van RandwyckIssy van Randwyck is an English singer and actress of Dutch descent. She is a former member of British comedy singing group and satirical cabaret act Fascinating Aida, she has since acted on stage and television.-Biography:...
as FräuleinFräuleinFräulein is the German language honorific previously in common use for unmarried women, comparable to Miss in English. Fräulein is the diminutive form of Frau, which was previously reserved only for married women. Since the 1970s, Fräulein has come to be used less often, and was banned from...
Thurau - Iddo GoldbergIddo GoldbergIddo Goldberg is an English-Israeli actor.Goldberg was born in Haifa, Israel. He has had several notable roles, including playing Ben on the television show Secret Diary of a Call Girl. He also appeared in the 2008 war film Defiance, starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.-Actor:-External links:...
as Wilfrid Landauer - Lindsay DuncanLindsay DuncanLindsay Vere Duncan, CBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actress. On stage she won two Olivier Awards and a Tony Award for her performance in Les Liaisons dangereuses and Private Lives , and she starred in several plays by Harold Pinter. Her most famous roles on television include:...
as Kathleen Isherwood - Perry MillwardPerry MillwardPerry Millward is a young British actor primarily known for his work on stage , and with a growing number of film and television credits...
as Richard Isherwood
Production
Christopher and His Kind was shot in BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Members of the Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
protested the filming because of the large swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
banners hung from buildings during the production. As a result, scenes with the banners could only be shot early in the morning or late at night. To research the role, Matt Smith read Isherwood's novels, watched video footage of Isherwood and traveled to the United States to meet Isherwood's longtime companion, Don Bachardy. "Just seeing the love Don had for him, and to be in the space where Christopher had lived and written was very informative." Because of its interest in Smith as the Eleventh Doctor
Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor is the eleventh incarnation of the protagonist of the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Matt Smith plays this incarnation, replacing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in the 2010 episode "The End of Time, Part Two"...
in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
franchise, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
issued strict instructions that Smith was not to appear completely nude in the film. Said director Geoffrey Sax, "They told me I must not show Doctor Who’s bare bottom. They were quite firm about that, even though Matt was playing an entirely different character. They have invested a lot in him as the 11th Doctor and were due to make a second series with him, so they were obviously anxious to protect their property. So I said: 'OK, you won’t see his bare behind.'"
The dolphin clock that appears in the film is the actual clock that was in Isherwood's room in Berlin. Don Bachardy lent it to the production.
Critical reception
Sam Wollaston of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
strongly praised Christopher and His Kind, citing an excellent performance from Smith, whom he calls "appealingly rakish, thoroughly disreputable, charming, posh, clever and funny" and compares favorably to John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
's performances as Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp , was an English writer and raconteur. He became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant.- Early life :...
. He similarly praised several of the other performers and applauded the film for its masterful evocation of its time period, finally concluding, "Brilliant, top drama, well done."
Michael Hogan for The Sunday Telegraph concurred in this assessment, calling the film "handsomely shot, lovingly recreating the period, but with a twinkling, tongue-in-cheek feel – not to mention some lusty sex scenes – that stops it becoming too misty-eyed". He echoed the kudos for the performances from Smith and the supporting cast.
Less impressed was John Lloyd for the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
who found the gay sex scenes discomfiting. Additionally he thought that the acting was not intense enough, finding the scenes between Christopher and his mother to be the most effective. The film, he concluded, "wasn’t great but it was bravely done, all the same".