''Peterloo'' is a 2018 British
historical drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
, written and directed by
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design ...
, based on the
Peterloo Massacre
The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Fifteen people died when cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliament ...
of 1819. The film was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the
75th Venice International Film Festival.
The film received its UK premiere on 17 October 2018, as part of the
BFI London Film Festival, at
HOME
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
.
The screening marked the first time that the festival had held a premiere outside London. Leigh said he was delighted that ''Peterloo'' would be premiered "where it happened".
It was released in the United Kingdom on 2 November 2018,
by
Entertainment One
Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...
and in the United States on 5 April 2019, by
Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...
.
Background
The film ''Peterloo'' marks the 200th anniversary of the notorious
Peterloo Massacre
The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Fifteen people died when cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliament ...
. On 16 August 1819, a crowd of some 60,000 people from Manchester and surrounding towns gathered in
St Peter's Fields to demand Parliamentary reform and an extension of voting rights. At that time, Manchester had no
members of parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
of its own while the whole of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
was represented by two county MPs.
The meeting had been peaceful but, in the attempt to arrest a leader of the meeting, the armed government militias panicked and charged upon the crowd. The toll of casualties has always been disputed but as many as 18 people were killed and up to 700 wounded. The immediate effect of the massacre was a crackdown on reform, as the government feared that the country was heading towards armed rebellion. The outcry led to the founding of the ''
Manchester Guardian'' and played a significant role in the passage through Parliament of the
Great Reform Act
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...
.
Plot
After the Battle of Waterloo, Joseph returns home from service in the Duke of Wellington's army to Manchester and his close-knit family headed by parents Joshua and Nellie. Joshua, son Robert, daughter Mary, and daughter-in-law Esther all earn a living by manual labour in a cotton mill. An economic depression makes work impossible for the traumatised Joseph to find and threatens the family's livelihood. The family is sympathetic to the radical campaigns for equal civil and political rights for all free men and against the
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...
that prevent them from buying cheaper imported grain. Joshua, Joseph, and Robert attend political meetings where local agitators including John Knight,
Samuel Bamford
Samuel Bamford (28 February 1788 β 13 April 1872) was an English radical reformer and writer born in Middleton, Lancashire. He wrote on the subject of northern English dialect and wrote some of his better known verse in it.
Biography
Bamford ...
and John Bagguley speak out against the system of government; Nellie attends a meeting of the
Manchester Female Reform Society. The local authorities, led by magistrates Colonel Fletcher, Reverend
William Robert Hay
William Robert Hay (1761β1839) was a British barrister, cleric and magistrate, one of the Manchester group associated with the Peterloo Massacre.
Early life
He was the son of Edward Hay, a diplomat and Governor of Barbados, and his wife Mary F ...
, Reverend
Charles Ethelston and Mr. Norris and Deputy Chief Constable Nadin, spy on the movement and wait for an excuse to arrest its leaders. The
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
,
Lord Sidmouth
Viscount Sidmouth, of Sidmouth in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 12 January 1805 for the former prime minister, Henry Addington. In May 1804, King George III intended to confer the titles ...
, is determined to suppress radical politics. When a disgruntled Londoner smashes the window of the
Prince Regent's coach, Sidmouth uses this as a pretext for suspending
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
.
Bamford and his friend Joseph Healey travel south to London to hear the famous radical
Henry 'Orator' Hunt speak at a political meeting. Hunt has a reputation for vanity but Bamford persuades Manchester businessman Joseph Johnson to invite Hunt to address a mass meeting at St Peter's Fields; the
Home Office discovers this invitation by intercepting Johnson's letter. Arriving at Manchester, Hunt goes into hiding in Johnson's home. Richards, a Home Office spy, is able to provoke Bagguley and fellow radicals Drummond and Johnston into publicly calling for armed insurrection, leading to their arrest and imprisonment. The magistrates plan to suppress Hunt's meeting and make an example of the attendees using the local mounted militia, the
Manchester and Salford Yeomanry
The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry cavalry was a short-lived yeomanry regiment formed in response to social unrest in northern England in 1817. The volunteer regiment became notorious for its involvement in the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, in which ...
and a regular army detachment led by General
John Byng
Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 β 14 March 1757) was a British Royal Navy officer who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Pass ...
. Hunt remains certain that he can lead a peaceful rally and sidelines Bamford, when he warns of the likelihood of brutal treatment by the authorities.
On the day of the meeting, thousands of people march into Manchester from the surrounding towns to hear Hunt speak at St Peter's Fields, including Nellie and Joshua and their family. Bamford leads a procession from Middleton but leaves in disgust on finding that it has been arranged that only Hunt will be allowed to address the crowd. A special committee of magistrates has been assembled to take charge of events, chaired by
Mr. Hulton. They appear to be in an upstairs room overlooking the gathering crowd. Norris, who urges restraint at least until any rioting might start, is overruled. Byng has left his deputy in command of the soldiers, to attend a genteel horse racing meet.
Once Hunt begins to speak, Reverend Ethelston reads the
Riot Act to the crowd. Although the crowd pays no attention to Ethelston, the magistrates are now legally empowered to disperse the meeting. The Yeomanry cavalry assault the peaceful assembly with
sabre
A sabre ( French: sabΚ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...
s drawn, while Hunt and Johnson are arrested by Nadin's men. The army tries to clear St Peter's Fields but in the mayhem, the crowd is unable to escape before several people are killed and many more injured. Joseph is wounded with a sabre and later dies. The attending reporters furiously return to their newspapers to expose this atrocity, coining a mocking name for it, "The Massacre of Peterloo". Despite the massacre, the Prince Regent sends his congratulations to the magistrates for suppressing radicalism and restoring "tranquility".
Cast
*
Rory Kinnear
Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor and playwright who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. In 2014, he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of William S ...
as
Henry Hunt
*
Maxine Peake
Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom '' dinnerladies'' (1998β2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'' (2004β2007), Mart ...
as Nellie
*
Pearce Quigley
Pearce Quigley is an English actor of the stage and screen.
He plays Will in the BBC Radio 4 Sitcom ''Alone''.
Theatre credits
''The Seagull'' (Royal Court); ''Paul'' (National Theatre); '' Journey's End'' (Comedy Theatre); ''My Night with R ...
as Joshua
* David Moorst as Joseph
* Rachel Finnegan as Mary
* Tom Meredith as Robert
* Simona Bitmate as Esther
*
Robert Wilfort
Robert Kenneth Wilfort (born 2 June 1977) is a Welsh actor from Porthcawl, who has made many appearances on British television and film. He is best known for his role as Jason West in ''Gavin & Stacey'' His other television appearances have in ...
as
Lord Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 β 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...
the Prime Minister
*
Karl Johnson as
Lord Sidmouth
Viscount Sidmouth, of Sidmouth in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 12 January 1805 for the former prime minister, Henry Addington. In May 1804, King George III intended to confer the titles ...
the Home Secretary
*
Sam Troughton
Sam John Troughton (born 21 March 1977) is an English actor who has made appearances in ''Robin Hood'', ''Alien vs. Predator'' (2004), as Aleksandr Akimov in ''Chernobyl'' (2019), and as Mr. Wilder in the BBC comedy series '' The Outlaws'' (2021 ...
as Mr. Hobhouse
*
Roger Sloman
Roger Sloman (born 19 May 1946) is an English actor known for his work in theatre, film, and television.
Early life and education
He grew up and was educated in South East London. He trained to be a teacher and then went to East 15 acting sch ...
as Mr. Grout
* Kenneth Hadley as Mr. Golightly
* Tom Edward-Kane as Mr. Cob
* Lizzy McInnerny as Mrs. Moss
*
Alastair Mackenzie
Alastair Mackenzie (born 8 February 1970) is a Scottish actor from Perth.
Early life
He was born in Trinafour, near Perth, and educated at Westbourne House School and Glenalmond College in Perthshire.
Mackenzie left home at the age of 1 ...
as
General Sir John Byng
*
Neil Bell as
Samuel Bamford
Samuel Bamford (28 February 1788 β 13 April 1872) was an English radical reformer and writer born in Middleton, Lancashire. He wrote on the subject of northern English dialect and wrote some of his better known verse in it.
Biography
Bamford ...
* Lisa Millett as Jemima Bamford
*
Philip Jackson as John Knight
* John Paul Hurley as John Thacker Saxton
* Tom Gill as Joseph Johnson
* Lizzie Frain as Mrs. Johnson
*
Harry Hepple
Harry Hepple (born David Matthew Hepple) is a British actor and musician.
Career
Hepple graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2006. The same year he made his professional debut in ''Alaska'' at the Royal Court Theatre with Rafe ...
as
James Wroe
James Wroe (1788β1844), was the only editor of the radical reformist newspaper the ''Manchester Observer'', the journalist who named the incident known as the Peterloo massacre, and the writer of pamphlets as a result that brought about the Refo ...
*
Ian Mercer
Ian Cameron Mercer (born 10 July 1961) is an English actor. He is known for playing Gary Mallett in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 1995 to 2000, having previously appeared in 1987 as Pete Jackson. His other television credits i ...
as "Dr" Joseph Healey
*
Adam Long as Wroe's Printer
*
Nico Mirallegro
'
Nico Cristian Mirallegro ( ; born 26 January 1991) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Barry "Newt" Newton in the soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' (2007β2010), Finn Nelson in ''My Mad Fat Diary'' (2013β2015), Joe Middleton in ...
as John Bagguley
*
Danny Kirrane
Daniel Peter Kirrane is a British actor.
Kirrane is from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastw ...
as Samuel Drummond
* Johnny Byrom as John Johnston
*
Victor McGuire
Victor McGuire (born 17 March 1964 in Tuebrook, Liverpool) is an English actor perhaps best known for playing Jack Boswell in series 1β3, 5-7 of Carla Lane's '' Bread'', Ron Wheatcroft in every series of '' Goodnight Sweetheart'' and its 2016 ...
as Deputy Chief Constable Nadin
*
Stephen Wight as Oliver the spy
* Ryan Pope as Chippendale the spy
*
Dorothy Atkinson
Dorothy Caroline Atkinson (born 1966) is an English actress and singer. She has appeared in several plays by playwright Alan Ayckbourn and in films by Mike Leigh, including ''Topsy-Turvy'', ''All or Nothing'', and ''Mr. Turner'', which premiere ...
as Singing weaver
*
Tim McInnerny
Tim McInnerny ( ; born 18 September 1956) is an English actor. He is known for his many roles on stage and television, including as Lord Percy Percy and Captain Darling in the 1980s British sitcom ''Blackadder''.
Early life
McInnerny was bor ...
as the
Prince Regent
A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...
*
Marion Bailey
Marion Bailey (born 5 May 1951) is an English actress. She is best known for her work with her partner, filmmaker Mike Leigh, including the films '' Meantime'' (1983), ''All or Nothing'' (2002), ''Vera Drake'' (2004), ''Mr. Turner'' (2014), fo ...
as
Lady Conyngham
*
Vincent Franklin
Vincent Warren Franklin (born 3 November 1966) is an English actor from Haworth, Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. He is best known for his roles in comedy television programmes. He has appeared in a number of feature films including ...
as Magistrate Rev. Ethelston
*
Jeff Rawle
Jeffrey Alan Rawle (born 20 July 1951) is an English actor. He is known for portraying George Dent in the news-gathering sitcom ''Drop the Dead Donkey''. He also portrayed Silas Blissett in ''Hollyoaks'' from December 2010 until 2012. Rawle ret ...
as Magistrate Rev. Hay
*
Eileen Davies
Eileen Davies (born 23 September 1948) is an English actress, nominated for ''best supporting actress'' at the British Independent Film Awards 2012 for her performance in the film Sightseers, her roles have included βFlora McArdleβ in t ...
as Mrs. Hay
*
Philip Whitchurch
Philip Whitchurch (born 30 January 1951) is an English stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for playing Captain William Frederickson in three episodes of the Sharpe series between 1994-1997 and the role of Chief Inspector Philip ...
as Magistrate Col. Fletcher
*
Martin Savage
, birth_date = 12 October 1897
, death_date = 19 December 1919
, birth_place= Ballisodare, County Sligo, Ireland
, death_place= Ashtown, County Dublin, Ireland
, image=Martin savage.jpg
, caption=
, nickname=
, allegiance= Irish Republican ...
as Magistrate Norris
*
Al Weaver
Alexander Paul Weaver (born 3 January 1981) is an English actor and writer, best known for his role as curate Leonard Finch in the ITV series ''Grantchester'' (2014-present).
Background
Weaver was born in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton ...
as
Magistrate Hulton
*
David Bamber
David James Bamber (born 19 September 1954) is an English actor. He has worked in television and theatre. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Early years
Bamber was born in Walkden, Lancashire. By September 1973, he was ...
as Magistrate Rev. Mallory
* David Fielder as Magistrate Rev. Gutteridge
*
Fine Time Fontayne
Ian Crossley (born 1951), better known by the stage name Fine Time Fontayne, is an English actor and stage director.
Early life
Fontayne was born in Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire (now South Yorkshire) into a mining family. In the 1960s, h ...
as Magistrate Clowes
*
Robert Gillespie
Robert James Gillespie (born 9 November 1933 in Lille, France) is a British actor, director and writer. Notable acting credits include '' Keep It in the Family'' (1980), '' At the Earth's Core'' (1976) and '' Force 10 from Navarone'' (1978). La ...
as Magistrate Warmley
* Jonathan Jaynes as Magistrate Tatton
* Nicholas Lumley as Magistrate Rev. Perryn
*
Shaun Prendergast
Shaun Prendergast (born 1958) is an English actor and writer.
Career
He was born in North Shields and holds a BA Hons from Bretton Hall College. He was an actor and playwright in residence for Northumberland Theatre Company before joining the ...
as Magistrate Bolt
*
Alan Williams as Magistrate Marriott
*
Dorothy Duffy
Dorothy Duffy (born 1980 in Douglas Bridge, Northern Ireland) is an Irish actress. She is best known for her performance as Rose / Patricia in ''The Magdalene Sisters
''The Magdalene Sisters'' is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Pete ...
as Mary Fildes
* Victoria Moseley as Susannah Saxton
*
Christine Bottomley
Christine Bottomley (born 27 April 1979) is an English actress.
Early life
Born in Rochdale and grew up in an apartment above the family's chemist shop. She went to several local youth drama groups before embarking on a course at the Royal S ...
as Female reformer
* Samantha Edwards as Female reformer
*
Julie Hesmondhalgh as Female reformer
*
Kate Rutter
Kate Rutter is an English actress, best known for '' I, Daniel Blake'', ''Peterloo'' and ''River City''.
Filmography
Personal life
Kate Rutter was born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire, she trained as an actress at Rose Bruford College in ...
as Female reformer
* Katie West as Female reformer
*
Joseph Kloska
Joseph Anthony Kloska (born 1983) is an English actor. He began his career in radio, moving on to work in television, theatre, and film.
Life
Named after a Polish grandfather, Teofil Joseph Kloska, who had settled in England, Kloska was brought ...
as
Richard Carlile
*
Leo Bill
Leo Martin Bill (born 31 August 1980) is an English actor, best known for his role as James Brocklebank in the 2006 film '' The Living and the Dead'', as well as '' The Fall'', '' Alice in Wonderland'', and the FX/BBC One drama series ''Taboo'' ...
as John Tyas
* Brian Fletcher as
Edward Baines
* Gary Cargill as John Smith
*
Patrick Kennedy as
Colonel L'Estrange
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
* Guy Williams as Lieutenant Col. Dalrymple
* Michael Chadwick as 15th Hussar
* Tristram Davies as 15th Hussar
* Oliver Devoti as 15th Hussar
* Dan Poole as 15th Hussar
* Charlie Tighe as 15th Hussar
*
Ben Crompton
Benjamin Lorton Crompton (born 1974) is an English actor and standup comedian, best known for his performance on the BBC sketch show ''Man Stroke Woman'' and as Colin in the BBC Three sitcom ''Ideal''. From 2012 to 2019, Crompton portrayed Edd ...
as Tuke, the painter
* Bryony Miller as Bessie
*
Lee Boardman
Lee Boardman (born 2 July 1972) is an English actor and narrator. He has appeared in the films ''Jack the Giant Slayer'' and '' Love's Kitchen'', and the television series ''Rome''.
Career
Boardman played Murray Priestman in '' Drop Dead Gorg ...
as Nadin's Constable
* Steve Garti as Nadin's Constable
*
Michael Culkin
Michael Culkin (born 2 July 1954) is an English theatre, film, and television actor probably best known for his role as Judge Buller in the BBC drama ''Garrow's Law''. He appeared as Rab Butler in the first two seasons of ''The Crown'', in '' ...
as a Lord
*
Rachel Davies
Rachel Davies is an English actress. She has numerous television credits to her name, including ''Boon'' (1986), '' A Little Bit Of Lippy'' (1989), ''Emmerdale'' (1993β94), '' Band of Gold'' (1995β96), '' Hillsborough'' (1996), and '' The Ch ...
as Pie buyer
*
Kieran O'Brien
Kieran O'Brien (born 1973) is an English actor.
Early life and education
Born in Oldham, Lancashire, O'Brien grew up in nearby Royton, and was educated at the Bishop Henshaw Roman Catholic Memorial High School in Rochdale.
Career
O'Brien bega ...
as Farrier
*
Noreen Kershaw
Noreen Kershaw is an English television actress and director.
She trained at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre and, at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, originated the title role of the play '' Shirley Valentine'', later made famous by ...
as Drunken servant
*
Bob Goody
Robert Goody (born 16 April 1951) is a British actor, librettist, writer and former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Theatre work
Bob Goody trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1973-1975). He was a founder member of the acclaim ...
as Outraged reformer
* Debbie Harding as Quizzical lady
Production
Filming began in May 2017. Production shot the interior of the Tarred Yarn Store in
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, and the exterior of the Ropery at the
Chatham Historic Dockyard
The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, South East England.
Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres (1.6 kmΒ²) and was one of the Royal Navy's main facilit ...
in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
to double as a
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
in Manchester. St Mary's Marshes on the
Isle of Grain
Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. No longer an island and now forming part of the peninsula, the area i ...
also appears in a short scene at the beginning of the film, when a lonely figure is seen walking along the marshes.
Much of the dialogue is in traditional
Lancashire dialect
The Lancashire dialect or (colloquially, Lanky) refers to the Northern English vernacular speech of the English county of Lancashire. The region is notable for its tradition of poetry written in the dialect.
Scope of Lancashire dialect
La ...
. To achieve this, the director used the book ''The Dialects of South Lancashire'', which was written by the same Samuel Bamford who is portrayed in the film.
Reception
On
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 ...
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 , based on reviews with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Peterloo'' proves writer-director Mike Leigh's populist anger remains undimmed β but that righteous fury occasionally overpowers the narrative."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gives the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it a "brilliant and demanding film".
The film obtained no
BAFTA nominations for not meeting BAFTA's diversity requirements, and in this regard ''The Guardian''βs critic noted: "''Peterloo'' marks a rare failure for Film4".
See also
* ''
Sharpe's Justice
''Sharpe's Justice'' is a British television drama, the 13th of a series that follows the career of Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. Unlike most of the other instalments of the series, this episode was n ...
''
References
External links
Peterlooat the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
*
*
INSIDE military technical advising on Peterloo and Vanity Fair with Paul Biddiss
{{Mike Leigh
2018 films
2010s historical films
Films directed by Mike Leigh
Amazon Studios films
Entertainment One films
Film4 Productions films
Films set in Manchester
Films shot in Devon
Films shot in Kent
Films set in 1819
British historical films
Peterloo massacre
Films shot in Greater Manchester
2010s English-language films
2010s British films