Sex and Desire in British Films of the 2000s

This book explores how British filmmakers of the 2000s engaged with the themes of love, sex and desire. It ranges from powerful contemporary dramas such as Kidulthood, Closer and Disobedience to the lighter mood of the Bridget Jones series, as well as exploring dramatisations of the lives of Oscar Wilde, Sylvia Plath and Iris Murdoch. This book explores a series of imaginative and compelling movies from the 2000s in which characters seek love, sexual fulfilment and some form of emotional stability in their everyday lives, within the context of British societies and culture, past and present.Beginning with a cycle of films about the sometimes tormented relationships of Oscar Wilde, Sylvia Plath and Iris Murdoch, the book moves on to examine Bridget Jones’s emotional journey from the ‘edge of reason’ to marriage and motherhood. A chapter on sex and sensibility in a British context addresses movies such as The Look of Love, Sex Lives of the Potato Men and I Want Candy, films evoking and probing the mood and perspectives associated with British sex comedies of the 1970s. By contrast, the final chapter, ‘The way we live now’, focuses on dramas that depict relationships in modern times, exploring love and death in the Kidulthood series, Anglo-American relationships in Closer and ‘scandalous’ affairs in Notes on a Scandal. This chapter also considers the 2011 film Perfect Sense, which uncannily anticipates the appearance of a deadly virus that wreaks havoc on the love lives of everyone in the universe.Engaging with a series of fascinating and resonant films, Sex and desire in British films of the 2000s explores dynamic and significant interactions between texts and contexts. It will appeal to literature enthusiasts, film students and readers interested in how we try to live out our hopes, fears and dreams in relation to sexual matters and affairs of the heart. This book explores how British filmmakers of the 2000s engaged with the themes of love, sex and desire in a wide variety of movies. It ranges from powerful contemporary dramas such as Kidulthood, Closer and Disobedience to the lighter mood of the Bridget Jones series. It also analyses how the lives, loves and traumas of historical figures such as Oscar Wilde, Sylvia Plath and Iris Murdoch were dramatised on film. The book will appeal to literature enthusiasts, film students and readers interested in exploring how we may currently live out our hopes, fears and dreams in relation to sexual matters and affairs of the heart.