Nil by Mouth (1997) on Netflix
Raymond and his wife Valerie live in a South East London flat with her mother, grandmother and brother. Billy is hooked on heroin, and Raymond's temper flares fast.
- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb7.3/1011,206 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes79%
Trailer
Plot summary
The family in South East London includes Raymond, his wife Valerie, their young daughter Michelle, and Valerie's mother Janet and grandmother Kathy. Valerie's brother Billy is a heroin addict who hangs around with friends and shoots up with them. Valerie is pregnant again and carries on smoking and drinking. Raymond's temper rules the flat and often turns violent. One night Billy and his friends score drugs there, and Billy helps himself to Raymond's cocaine. Raymond is furious, bites Billy on the nose and orders him out. Billy gets back in and takes a family heirloom he can sell to fund his habit.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Nil by Mouth (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film features the word "cunt" 82 times, more than any other film in history, and 428 uses of "fuck" and its derivatives, more than any film at the time until Summer of Sam surpassed it two years later; it still ranks highest for utterances per minute of running time, at 3.34.
- The film depicts the environment Oldman witnessed growing up on a council estate in South East London, and Oldman's sister Laila Morse plays Janet, while his mother voices a song in the film.
- Nil by Mouth premiered at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, where Kathy Burke won the Best Actress Award for her performance.
- The title is a UK medical instruction, literally "nothing by mouth", meaning that a patient must not take food or water.
- In 1999 the British Film Institute included Nil by Mouth in its list of the Top 100 British films, and in 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out ranked it the 21st-best British film.
