My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
89%RT Audience Score:
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
6 wins & 6 nominations total
My Beautiful Laundrette is fast and all over the place because it has so much to say, and show, including a highly watchable fresh-faced Daniel Day-Lewis
My Beautiful Laundrette” is a movie that’s as quirky and fresh as a newly laundered shirt, but unfortunately, it’s not quite as good. However, it’s still worth watching for its lively and truthful portrayal of a Pakistani and an Englishman going into business and becoming lovers. Plus, it’s got Daniel Day-Lewis in one of his early breakout roles, and who doesn’t love a good Daniel Day-Lewis performance? Overall, it’s a socially relevant cinematic document that’s also a good movie, and that’s something we can all appreciate.
Production Company(ies)
Fox 2000 Pictures, New Regency Productions, Linson Films,
Distributor
Orion Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
245 Queenstown Road, Battersea, London, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1986
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.66 : 1
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Runtime:1h 37m
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Language(s):English, Urdu
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Country of origin:United Kingdom
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 7, 1986 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 3, 2003
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Gordon Warnecke, Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth, Derrick Branche, Shirley Anne Field, directed by Stephen Frears, written by Hanif Kureishi, LGBTQ+, social commentary, interracial romance, immigrant experience, London, laundromat, racism, skinheads, social forces, success, business, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Catherine Rambeau, Paul Attanasio, Sheila Benson, Richard Corliss, Dave Kehr, Jay Boyar, Matt Brunson, Ángel Fernández-Santos, Amanda Jane Stern, Tim Brayton, Brandon Judell, Josef Braun, MPAA rating R, produced by Tim Bevan, Sarah Radclyffe
Worldwide gross: $2,460,977
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $6,818,600
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,083
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 743,577
US/Canada gross: $2,451,545
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): £650,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Gordon Warnecke – Omar
Saeed Jaffrey – Nasser
Roshan Seth – Papa
Derrick Branche – Salim
Shirley Anne Field – Rachel
Director(s)
Stephen Frears
Writer(s)
Hanif Kureishi
Producer(s)
Tim Bevan, Sarah Radclyffe
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
6 wins & 6 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (41) | Rotten (1)
A brutally funny social comedy about the racial and social consequences of a Pakistani and an Englishman going into business and becoming lovers.
October 27, 2021 | Rating: 8/10
Catherine Rambeau
Detroit Free Press
TOP CRITIC
“My Beautiful Laundrette” is quirky and fresh and ambitious and pretty much everything a movie should be, except good.
January 4, 2018
Paul Attanasio
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
It’s Daniel Day Lewis, taut, intelligent, erotic, who is an emerging star.
May 13, 2013 | Rating: 4.5/5
Sheila Benson
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Fast, bold, harsh and primitive like a prodigious student film with equal parts promise and threat.
May 13, 2013
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
This is a uniquely plausible portrait of life in England, yet its appeal isn’t limited to social realism — it also has a twist of buoyant fantasy and romance
May 13, 2013
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
This new British picture raises enough issues for a half-dozen more conventional movies. And though this approach makes for a structure that’s a little shaky, the film somehow holds together.
May 13, 2013
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
Daniel Day-Lewis enjoyed a breakout year stateside thanks to his contrasting performances here and as a supercilious dandy in A Room with a View.
December 28, 2020 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Despite its irregularities, the film is worth watching. It is lively and truthful. [Full Review in Spanish]
March 10, 2020
Ángel Fernández-Santos
El Pais (Spain)
Not only is it a brilliant take on star-crossed lovers, it doesn’t take the twists and turns you’d expect a story like this to take.
February 11, 2020
Amanda Jane Stern
Film Inquiry
Would that all socially relevant cinematic documents were also such good movies!
December 4, 2016 | Rating: 9/10
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
Besides being revelatory in its depiction of a gay relationship, its respectful, yet unfawning, look at immigrants trying to make it in a new country is straight out of the headlines.
August 17, 2016
Brandon Judell
Huffington Post
How many times in the history of the medium have we seen a single film rattle as many socio-cinematic paradigms-and done it with as much brio-as My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)?
November 18, 2015
Josef Braun
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta)…
Plot
In My Beautiful Laundrette, a young Pakistani man in London is given a rundown laundromat by his uncle and rehabilitates it with his former lover, an Englishman, but they face social and racial obstacles.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Daniel Day-Lewis gives a “taut, intelligent, erotic” performance in My Beautiful Laundrette, which helped launch his career.
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