Billy Liar

(1963)

★ 6.8 IMDb · 127 votes

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Drama

Year: 1963

Runtime: 98 мин

Country: United Kingdom

Director: John Schlesinger

Cast: Том Кортни, Джули Кристи, Wilfred Pickles, Мона Уошборн, Ethel Griffies, Finlay Currie, Gwendolyn Watts, Helen Fraser, Leonard Rossiter, Rodney Bewes

Plot

A young Englishman dreams of escaping from his working class family and dead-end job as an undertaker's assistant. A number of indiscretions cause him to lie in order to avoid the penalties. His life turns into a mess and he has an opportunity to run away and leave it all behind.

Going nowhere fast, Billy Fisher, an incorrigible fantasizer, dreams incessantly of escaping his drab existence and humdrum routine work as an undertakers' clerk in Yorkshire. Seeking refuge from his working-class family and not one but two demanding fiancees in the imaginary country called Ambrosia, more and more, Billy finds himself cut off from reality, picturing himself as its ruler and hero. Then, as Billy's fabrications grow increasingly wilder and problems start piling up, lovely, happy-go-lucky Liz enters the young day-dreamer's life, offering a way out of this fine mess. However, new beginnings are always scary, and Billy must make up his mind: it's either a fresh start in London or an endless beautiful lie in Ambrosia.