''Nil by Mouth'' is a 1997

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

portraying a family in South East London. It was

Gary Oldman Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three British Academy ...

's debut as a writer and director, and was produced by Oldman,

Douglas Urbanski Douglas Urbanski is an American film producer and occasional film actor. He is a twice Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe Nominated and BAFTA-winning motion picture producer. Life and career Urbanski was born in Somerville, New Jersey. In addition ...

and

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films ''Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...

. It stars

Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perha ...

as Raymond, the abusive husband of Valerie, played by

Kathy Burke Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke (born 13 June 1964) is an English actress, comedian, writer, producer, and director. She achieved fame with her appearances on sketch shows such as ''French and Saunders'' (1988–1999) and her recurring role as Mag ...

. The score was composed by Eric Clapton.

Plot

In a working-class South London district live Raymond; his wife, Valerie; her brother, Billy; Valerie and Billy's mother, Janet; and their grandmother, Kathy. Billy is a

drug addict Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...

, and Raymond kicks him out when he steals drugs from him. Billy hangs out with his heroin addict friends and they shoot up together. The family is

dysfunctional Abnormality (or dysfunctional behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as rare or dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when it is atypical or out of the ordinary, consists of u ...

, mostly because of Raymond's fiery temper and violent outbursts. When Valerie gets pregnant again, she continues to smoke and drink. Valerie goes out on the town, and when Ray sees an attractive male friend of hers, he flies into a jealous rage, ordering her out of the pub and into the car. Back home, he accuses her of sleeping with the male friend, and pummels her severely, causing her to miscarry. He tries to win her back, but she leaves him and prepares to start a new life without him. In an alcohol-fuelled rage, he angrily tears their flat apart. He tells Mark, his friend, that the reason for his horrible behavior is his own abusive father, who was the same way with him and his mother. Later, he tries to reconcile with Valerie; however, she is outraged, and says that when she reaches 70, she wants to look back on this part of her life, as she is now 30, as a time when she had some fun. What she has instead is people feeling sorry for her. Valerie does not want to return to Ray, pointing out they have not got a home to go back to because he has smashed it all up. She will try to find someone to be with that will love her and treat her kindly. Ray goes to see Valerie and asks her if she still loves him. Ray and Valerie are eventually back together again, and Ray has fixed up the apartment. Ray speaks as crudely as ever but begins to restrain himself from his usual angry outbursts. Billy, and his friend Danny, rob a man to support their drug habit and wind up going to prison. This not only reunites Ray with Valerie but reunites the whole family. They go off to visit Billy.

Cast

as Raymond ("Ray") *

as Valerie ("Val") *

Charlie Creed-Miles Charlie Creed-Miles (born 24 March 1972) is an English actor and musician. Creed-Miles was born in Nottingham, and had his first starring screen role, aged 21, in ''The Punk'' (1993). His brief relationship with actress Samantha Morton Sam ...

as Billy *

Laila Morse Maureen Oldman (born 1 August 1945), known professionally as Laila Morse, is an English actress. Her roles include Janet in the drama film '' Nil by Mouth'' (1997) and Mo Harris in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Early life Laila Morse wa ...

as Janet *

Edna Doré Edna Lillian Doré (née Gorring; 31 May 1921 – 11 April 2014) was a British actress. She was known for her bit-part roles in sitcoms and for playing the character of Mo Butcher in '' EastEnders'' from 1988 to 1990. Career Doré began her c ...

as Kath * Chrissie Cotterill as Paula * Jon Morrison as Angus *

Jamie Foreman Jamie Foreman (born 25 May 1958) is an English actor best known for his roles as Duke in ''Layer Cake'' (2004) and Bill Sikes in Roman Polanski's ''Oliver Twist'' (2005). Career Foreman played opposite Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke in Gary Oldm ...

as Mark * Steve Sweeney as Danny

Production

The film depicts the environment Oldman witnessed growing up on a

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

in South East London. Oldman's sister

plays Janet and his mother voices a song in the film. The title is a medical instruction (literally "nothing by mouth"), meaning that a patient must not take food or water. The score was composed by Eric Clapton. ''Nil by Mouth'' features the word " cunt" 82 times, more than any other film in history. It also features 428 uses of the word " fuck" and its derivatives, more than any film at the time until ''

Summer of Sam ''Summer of Sam'' is a 1999 American crime thriller film about the 1977 David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) serial murders and their effect on a group of fictional residents of an Italian-American neighborhood in The Bronx in the late 1970s. The kille ...

'' surpassed it two years later; but it remains the highest ranked (as of 2019) with regards to the average number of utterances per minute of running time, with 3.34 / min (leaving aside '' Swearnet: The Movie'', which is more of a concept movie revolving around that very theme, and ''Fuck'', a documentary on the phenomenon).

Reception

''Nil by Mouth'' received generally positive reviews. It holds a 77% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 30 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

of 6.7/10. Roger Ebert awarded the film 3.5 out of 4, writing: "The film's portrait of street life in South London is unflinching and observant." Reviewing ''Nil by Mouth'' for its 25th anniversary, the '' Guardian'' critic

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

gave it five out of five, praising its performances and "pure invention, energy and seriousness". The film grossed $266,130 from 18 theatres in North America.

Awards and nominations

In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for '' Time Out'' ranked ''Nil by Mouth'' the 21st-best British film. *

1997 Cannes Film Festival The 50th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1997. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to '' Ta'm e guilass'' by Abbas Kiarostami and ''Unagi'' by Shohei Imamura. Jeanne Moreau was the mistress of ceremonies. The festival opened with ...

: ** Winner:

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

(Kathy Burke) ** Nominee:

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

(Golden Palm) * 1997

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

: ** Winner: Channel 4 Director's Award (Gary Oldman) * 1997

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...

: ** Nominee: Best Cinematographer (Ray Fortunato) * 1997 BAFTA Awards: ** Winner: ''Alexander Korda'' Award for Best British Film (Luc Besson, Gary Oldman, Douglas Urbanski) ** Winner:

BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Original Screenplay has been presented to its winners since 1984, when the original category (BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay) was split into two awards, the other being the B ...

(Gary Oldman) ** Nominee: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Ray Winstone) ** Nominee: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Kathy Burke) * 1998

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

: ** Winner: Best Performance by a British Actor in an Independent Film (Ray Winstone) ** Winner: Best Performance by a British Actress in an Independent Film (Kathy Burke) ** Winner: Most Promising Newcomer in any Category (Laila Morse) ** Nominee: Best British Director of an Independent Film (Gary Oldman) ** Nominee: Best British Independent Film ** Nominee: Best Original Screenplay by a British Writer of a Produced Independent Film (Gary Oldman) * 1998

Empire Awards The Empire Awards was an annual British awards ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the local and global film industry. Winners were awarded the Empire Award statuette. The awards, first presented in 1996, were presented by the British f ...

: ** Winner: Best Debut (Gary Oldman) * 1997 Royal Variety Club of Great Britain ** Winner: Best Film Actress (Kathy Burke) * 1997: Golden Frog Award: ** Nominee: Cinematography (Ron Fortunato)

References

External links

*
Screenonline: ''Nil by Mouth''

Review by Eye for Film, of ''Nil by Mouth''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nil By Mouth 1997 films 1997 drama films British drama films English-language French films EuropaCorp films French drama films Films about domestic violence Films about dysfunctional families Films directed by Gary Oldman Films produced by Luc Besson Films set in London Films shot in London British independent films French independent films BAFTA winners (films) Best British Film BAFTA Award winners Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award 1997 directorial debut films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films 1990s French films