A Private Function (1984) on Netflix
Northern England, 1947: food rationing is still in force. Local businessmen are fattening a pig in secret for a party, and chiropodist Gilbert Chilvers, pressed by his wife Joyce, steals it.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb6.5/103,778 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
In the summer of 1947, a group of local businessmen in a small northern English town plan a party and are illegally raising a pig for it. Gilbert Chilvers, a chiropodist, is urged on by his wife Joyce, and he steals the pig. The couple must then hide it. Morris Wormold, the town's food inspector, is determined to stop anyone getting around the rationing rules.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Private Function (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While filming a kitchen scene in A Private Function, Maggie Smith was hemmed in by one of the film's pigs and had to vault over its back to escape.
- Three pigs were used in the film, all of them named Betty. Producer Mark Shivas was advised by Intellectual Animals UK that they should be female and six months old so they would not be too large or aggressive, but the pigs turned out to be unpredictable and dangerous.
- Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray offered Michael Palin the lead role of Gilbert Chilvers in July 1983, with Maggie Smith already attached. Palin wrote in his diary that he was disappointed the part was not bigger or more difficult, and later noted he had decided not to do it.
