This dark and disturbing motion picture is about the life and death of 1960's gay playwright Joe Orton. The title is an anagram play on words: "Prick up your arse". Orton (Gary Oldman) is befriended by the older Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina), and while the two begin a relationship, it's not all about sex. Orton loves the dangers of bath-houses and sex in public restrooms. Halliwell, not as charming or attractive as Orton, doesn't fare so well in those places. While both long to become writers, it is Orton who achieves fame with his plays "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" and "Loot". The film tells the story in flashback, with sequences of John Lahr (Wallace Shawn) researching the book the film is based on with Orton's literary agent, Peggy Ramsay (Vanessa Redgrave). Lahr's wife (Lindsay Duncan) appears periodically though the film as his research assistant. Orton and Halliwell's relationship is traced from its beginning. As Orton grows increasingly confident in his talent, Halliwell's writing stagnates. They fall into a parody of a traditional married couple, with Orton as the "husband" and Halliwell as the "wife". When Orton is commissioned to write a screenplay for The Beatles, Halliwell prepares for a meeting with the "Fab Four", but Orton is taken away for a meeting on his own. Finally, Orton's status as a brilliant playwright coupled with Halliwell's increasing marginalization and mental instability leads Halliwell to bludgeon Orton to death and then kill himself with a drug overdose.
"Prick Up Your Ears" was to be the title of an unreleased play by Orton, a name suggested by Halliwell, who had provided most of Orton's titles throughout his successful years. Director Stephen Frears, who also made the gay-themed "My Beautiful Laundrette", balances our sympathies for both the protagonists while the leads give standout performances. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the book by John Lahr.
"Prick Up Your Ears" was to be the title of an unreleased play by Orton, a name suggested by Halliwell, who had provided most of Orton's titles throughout his successful years. Director Stephen Frears, who also made the gay-themed "My Beautiful Laundrette", balances our sympathies for both the protagonists while the leads give standout performances. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the book by John Lahr.
