Wonderland (1999 film)

The film follows the lives of three London sisters and their family over five days, a long Guy Fawkes Night weekend in November. Waitress Nadia, "shy, with a backpack and her hair in girlish twists", spends all her time going on blind dates with unsatisfactory men from personal ads, while her hairdresser sister Debbie struggles to raise her 11-year-old son without much help from his irresponsible father. Meanwhile, Molly is pregnant but her husband Eddie has left his job without telling her. Eileen and Bill, their parents, are virtually estranged since the departure of their eldest son Darren, who they have not heard from since he left home; having left, he is the only happy one in the family. Eileen takes her unsaid frustrations out on the neighbour's barking dog, poisoning it when it prevents her from sleeping. Franklin is an over-sensitive man who frequents the coffee house where Nadia works. He is unable to summon the courage to talk to her, instead listening to music he thinks she would like alone in his bedroom. Nadia sleeps with one of her dates, the handsome Tim, but he is not really interested in her. Molly and Eddie have a fight when she discovers he has left his job and he leaves. She goes into labour believing he has permanently left her, but he has really had an accident on his motorbike. Debbie's son, Jack, is mugged when his father Dan leaves him alone and Jack goes off on his own to watch fireworks. Darren finally calls to let his family know that he is fine and Franklin has enough courage to talk to Nadia. Molly and Eddie are reunited at hospital after the birth of their daughter, Alice, a name Eddie selected because of Alice in Wonderland. ==Cast==

The film's French writer, Laurence Coriat, was previously a psychology student. Winterbottom said that the script began in a similar way to Short Cuts and "the connections between the stories were purely down to geography" but was rewritten so that "the story of one sister tells you something about the other two." Senses of Cinema said that the editing was "immaculate and exciting". ==Soundtrack==

The soundtrack to Wonderland was composed by Michael Nyman, who has said it is his favourite score. The New York Times compared the score to that of Stewart Copeland for Rumble Fish and said that "the rhythms are like a clock ticking" and it is "alternately plaintive and mournful". The Guardian said it was "sumptuous, romantic". Senses of Cinema said the music was "heart-wrenching, full of tragic qualities, yet also extremely light". ==Release==

The film's US debut was at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2000. In contrast, his colleague Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film a C, opining that while she liked Winterbottom's "loose, improvisatory feel", "the energy is sapped by clinging condescension in the guise of compassionate liberalism". The Guardian said that the filming of London's streets was similar to that of New York by Martin Scorsese, but complained about the characterisation, for example that with Nadia "we are given no insight into her struggles or her grinning social ineptitude," leaving the film "alienating and infuriating." They praised the acting, particularly the "desperately affecting" parents, but were annoyed by the attempts at Estuary English by the cast of non-Londoners. Senses of Cinema has called it "arguably one of Winterbottom's most accomplished works" and "a wonderful and very poignant film." ==Themes and analysis==

The New York Times said the film was "a modern-day London turn on Chekhov"'s Three Sisters and said that the sisters could be interpreted as different life stages of a single woman. The social realism of the film was compared to those of fellow British directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. The end of the film has a "dramatic coincidence" that brings the characters together for Molly giving birth, a sentimental narrative device that is a change from the relative lack of structure of the rest of the film, though Sense of Cinema also saw this final scene as "genuinely uplifting" and only giving tentative hope for the characters. ==Accolades==

Awards • British Independent Film Awards • Best British Film (won) Nominations • BAFTA Awards • Best British Film • Boston Society of Film Critics Awards • Best Director – Michael Winterbottom • British Independent Film Awards • Best Film ==References==