Dirty Pretty Things (film)
| Dirty Pretty Things | |
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Promotional film poster
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| Directed by | Stephen Frears |
| Produced by |
Tracey Seaward Robert Jones |
| Written by | Steven Knight |
| Starring |
Chiwetel Ejiofor Audrey Tautou Sergi López Sophie Okonedo Benedict Wong Zlatko Buric |
| Music by | Nathan Larson |
| Cinematography | Chris Menges |
| Edited by | Mick Audsley |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English Somali Spanish French |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $13,904,766 |
Dirty Pretty Things is a 2002 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight, a drama about two immigrants in London. It was produced by BBC Films and Celador Films.
Okwe is an illegal Nigerian immigrant to the United Kingdom who drives a cab in London during the day and works at the front desk of a hotel at night. The hotel is staffed with many immigrants, both legal and illegal. Okwe keeps himself awake by chewing khat, an herbal stimulant. A doctor in his home country, he was forced to flee after being falsely accused of murdering his wife. In London, he is pressed into giving medical treatment to other poor immigrants, including fellow cab drivers with venereal diseases. Okwe's friend Guo Yi, an employee at a hospital mortuary, provides him with antibiotics under the table.
A prostitute known as Juliette, who plies her trade in the hotel, informs Okwe about a blocked toilet in one of the hotel rooms. He fishes out the blockage and finds a human heart. The manager of the hotel, Juan, runs an illegal operation at the hotel wherein immigrants swap kidneys for forged passports. After learning of Okwe's past as a doctor, Juan pressures him to join his operation as a surgeon, but Okwe refuses.
Senay is a Turkish Muslim seeking asylum, who also works at the hotel, as a cleaner. Her immigration status allows her to stay in the UK providing she does not work; the hotel is a perfect cover because she is not named on its books. She allows Okwe to sleep on her sofa when she is not home, her religion forbidding her from being alone with a man, other than a relative, at any time.
Senay is frightened after a visit from the Immigration service, and convinces Okwe to leave before the authorities find him in her home. The officials find a book of matches from the hotel and decide to inspect it before Senay arrives for her early morning shift. Okwe asks the doorman to intercept Senay; the officials don't catch her, but she can no longer work at the hotel. She begins working in a sweatshop making clothes, but the officials raid that site, too. The entire staff flee to the roof while the manager gets rid of the Immigration agents. The manager will let Senay keep her job and promises not to report her to the authorities only if she will perform oral sex on him. After a couple of such sessions, she refuses to cooperate and bites him, then flees with an expensive coat and some dresses.
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