''An Englishman in New York'' is a 2009

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

that chronicles the years

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

English writer

Quentin Crisp Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well-known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of ...

spent in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, starring

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

reprising his role as Crisp from '' The Naked Civil Servant'' (1975). The film takes its title from "

Englishman in New York "Englishman in New York" is a song by English singer-songwriter Sting, from his second studio album '' ...Nothing Like the Sun'', released in October 1987. Branford Marsalis played soprano saxophone on the track, while the drums were played by Ma ...

", a song about Crisp written by

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

for the 1987 album '' ...Nothing Like the Sun''.

Plot

The film follows Quentin Crisp's move in the late 1970s from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where he was embraced by celebrities and artists. Crisp becomes a local, and then more national celebrity and writes for New York magazines. He struggles to find his way through flippant comments he makes during the AIDS crisis which he refuses to recant. He befriends and helps to promote artist Patrick Angus. In the 1990s, he continues his hefty schedule of public performances, including a two-person show with performance artist Penny Arcade. He appears in the

Sally Potter Charlotte Sally Potter (born 19 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter. She is known for directing ''Orlando'' (1992), which won the audience prize for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival. Early life Potter was born an ...

film ''

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

'' as

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

and appears for the last time in America in a Tampa, Florida gay bar doing a Q&A where he reminds the young crowd of outsiders to "Neither look forward where there is doubt, nor backward where there is regret, look inward and ask, not if there is anything outside that you want, but whether is anything inside that you have not yet unpacked"

Cast

Cynthia Nixon John Hurt Swoosie Kurtz 2009 Tribeca

Denis O'Hare Denis Patrick Seamus O'Hare (born January 17, 1962) is an American actor, singer, and author noted for his award-winning performances in the plays '' Take Me Out'' and ''Sweet Charity'', as well as portraying vampire king Russell Edgington on HB ...

as Phillip Steele (an amalgam character based on Crisp's friends Phillip Ward and Tom Steele) *

Jonathan Tucker Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1999), ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''Hostage'' (2005), ''In the Valley of Elah'' (2007), '' The Ruins'' (20 ...

Patrick Angus Patrick Angus (1953–1992) was a 20th-century American painter who, among many other works, created a number acrylic paintings of the interior of the Gaiety Theater and some of its dancers and customers in the 1980s. Some of the titles are: '' ...

, an American artist and Crisp's friend *

Swoosie Kurtz Swoosie Kurtz ( ; born September 6, 1944) is an American actress. She is the recipient of an Emmy Award and two Tony Awards. Kurtz made her Broadway theatre, Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of ''Ah, Wilderness''. She has received five Tony ...

Connie Clausen Connie Clausen (born Constance Clausen on June 11, 1923, in Menasha, Wisconsin, and died September 7, 1997, in New York City) was an American actress, author, and literary agent. Career Connie Clausen's career began in 1942 at the age of 1 ...

, Crisp's agent *

Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, activist, and theater director. For her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), she won the 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supp ...

Penny Arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...

, a performance artist and playwright who takes an interest in Crisp

Reception

Critical reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 70%, based on 10 reviews, and an average rating of 6.53/10.

Awards

In 2010, ''An Englishman in New York'' was nominated for a

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...

for Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series during the

21st GLAAD Media Awards The 21st GLAAD Media Awards was the 2010 annual presentation of the media awards presented by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The awards seek to honor films, television shows, musicians and works of journalism that fairly and accur ...

References

External links

*
Crisperanto: The Quentin Crisp Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Englishman In New York, An 2009 films 2009 biographical drama films 2009 LGBT-related films British biographical drama films British LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films British films set in New York City Films directed by Richard Laxton Quentin Crisp 2009 drama films Biographical films about actors 2000s English-language films 2000s British films English-language drama films