Quadrophenia (1979) is a film that aims to capture the feelings and angst pulsating through the conscious of the mod sub-culture of the 1960s. Based on the original rock opera by The Who, it’s a film that is able to through a character study, analyse the society and culture that feeds into the protagonists mind.
Jimmy (Phil Daniels) is a young mod working as an office assistant. As a young working class man, he dreams of more and has chosen to embrace the mod culture as a way of defining himself. The smart clothes and slickly styled hair to him are all used for his self expression. To him, it’s all about embracing and joining his friends, and others in something that is bigger than them selves.
In this there is a real fantasy element to the story. During the weekdays him and his friends have to act and participate in regular 9-5 jobs. But at the night and weekends their time is their own. They are free to be mods, to fight the antagonistic ‘Rockers’ and take as many pills as they wish. Or so it seems. That is until Jimmy meets an old friend back from his work in the armed forces. His friend (played by a young Ray Winstone) is now a rocker. The two debate the relevance of their own youth subcultures with both providing similar answers on the subject of identity. With each of them seeing themselves as part of something bigger as a means of which to wholly define their character.
But in the riots of Brighton Jimmy finds solace in his lot in life. He is able to be one with the other mods there in a truly visual confrontation with the rockers. Here he is finally able to consummate his feelings with long time crush Steph, played by a young Leslie Ash. In Brighton the mod sub-culture seems to be more, it isn’t something that’s played at by a small group of friends at home. In Brighton at least it seems to be a real social movement. It has substance there and has a real visual presence on the streets.
Upon his return home though things begin to fall apart for Jimmy. His friends begin to settle back into their old monotonous way of living and Jimmy not being able to settle for this, rebels. He is soon fired from his job as a file clerk and Steph distances herself from his erratic behaviour. Jimmy leaves back to Brighton by train. He aims to reclaim the experience that he had only a short while ago. Yet he soon realises that all is not how it was. Things have changed in Brighton, with things much more quiet and tranquil than they were during his last trip.
His tempers however, do not boil over until he sees one of the defining mods of the riot now working in a hotel as a bellboy. His fantasies have finally been shattered and he, like the others before him, has come to the reality of the situation. The fact is that the youth movement was simply a form of presentation to identify themselves. Their violent actions only a means of lashing out at those things they didn’t like or have control over. In response to this Jimmy steals the mods scooter taking it to Beachy Head. He rides and sits there for a while before finally throwing the scooter from the cliff into the sea.
Overall the film is a fantastic coming of age movie charting a young mans fantasies and dreams, and his growing up which gradually allows him to except the reality of adulthood. The film is also brilliantly shot with strong defining cinematography. Shots are framed remarkably and sequences unfold very eloquently. It is really unlike any other British film I’ve ever seen in terms of its presentation. There is a real dynamic style to the way the film embraces the culture it presents, this being something of a rare occurrence in any British film. Particularly in it’s anti authoritarian tones at times.
One of the other important factors that defines this film is that all of the characters seem real. Even those that barely have screen time, you get a solid understanding of their personality. This is something else that really seems missing in the modern British film industry. In that this film features a large ensemble cast yet even in a character piece it manages to define all of them well. To often you see now these very formulaic feel good comedies or costume dramas represented as the mainstream consensus of the modern film industry and as someone evaluating this work, it makes you think what happened to mainstream, publicly accessible, British contemporary cinema? Not just art cinema, but films that reflect on the public consciousness and would therefore be financially viable?
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