‘Private Road’: the hidden Bruce Robinson gem about delusional first love
In 1987, Withnail and I was released to instant acclaim, cementing it as a British classic. It was heralded for its wittiness and encapsulation of that specific drifting feeling that many of us experience in adulthood when we’re unsure of our place in the world and how to get what we want—if we know what that is. The film was helmed by Bruce Robinson in his directorial debut, who also wrote the screenplay, but prior to it, he’d honed a modest acting career.
Robinson made his debut acting performance in Romeo and Juliet as Benvolio before appearing in a few British films like Baby Love, Tam-Lin, and The Music Lovers. Then there was Private Road, the second project from Barney Platt-Mills, who’d made his first one, Bronco Bullfrog, a socio-realist drama, a year prior. Apart from the forgotten 1982 movie Hero, these were the only features the director made. Yet, the former two offer a realistic insight into the lives of young Britons that could’ve set Platt-Mills up for a much more successful career.
Unfortunately, Private Road has faded into relative obscurity despite it featuring Robinson, but can you really be surprised that a low-budget slice-of-life British film from 1971 has largely been forgotten? The movie isn’t exactly full of action, nor does it do anything particularly groundbreaking, so it didn’t break the box office. Yet, it’s a surprisingly tender film that many people might relate to if they find it at the right time in life.
Robinson plays Peter, a young writer who meets Susan Penhaligon’s Anne, a receptionist whom he quickly falls for. The pair become a couple and spend some time away from the city in a remote country cottage, becoming the perfect picture of romance. They might look good on the surface, but various issues come to affect the pair, whose relationship slowly disintegrates into nothingness.
Platt-Mills perfectly captures that time in your life when you think you’ve got it all figured out, but really, you know nothing. Peter and Anne are young and in love, but they soon realise that akin to most first relationships, they are doomed, and the only way is out. The pair have their own delusions about the relationship, but inevitably, it’s these delusions that lead to disaster.
Private Road is a gentle film that allows its characters to exist in their little microcosm. We observe their conversations, interactions with others, quiet glances, and the inevitable crumble. As one of their friends battles a heroin addiction, Anne gets pregnant, and money becomes a worry. Platt-Mills reveals a messy and honest portrait of young adulthood that isn’t exactly ‘grim’, but it’s not idyllic either.
The filmmaker’s roots in social realism allow Private Road to somewhat bear the influence of the kitchen sink tradition, although the floor of the film isn’t as focused on class. Instead, Platt-Mills allows a glimpse into the lives of two ordinary young people whose experiences of love are rather universally relatable.
Robinson hasn’t acted in much else, although he appeared in François Truffaut’s The Story of Adèle H in 1975 and the erotic drama Kleinhoff Hotel in 1977. Private Road is perhaps his most underrated gem that stands as a truly worthwhile slice of British cinema that saw him explore the woes of young adulthood several years before Withnail and I.
