Weekend (2011 film)
| Weekend | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Andrew Haigh |
| Produced by | Tristan Goligher |
| Written by | Andrew Haigh |
| Starring |
Tom Cullen Chris New |
| Music by | James Edward Barker |
| Cinematography | Ula Pontikos |
| Edited by | Andrew Haigh |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Peccadillo Pictures (UK) Sundance Selects (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £120,000 |
| Box office | $1,128,477(Worldwide) |
Weekend is a 2011 British romantic drama film directed by Andrew Haigh. It stars Tom Cullen and Chris New as two men who meet and begin a sexual relationship the week before one of them plans to leave the country. The film won much praise after premiering at the SXSW festival in the US, and was a success at the box office in the UK and the US, where it received a limited release.
On a Friday night in Nottingham, Russell attends a house party with friends. He assures his best friend Jamie that he will be there Sunday for his daughter's birthday. Russell leaves early, but decides to go to a gay club, alone and looking for a hookup. Just before closing time he meets Glen, a student artist, and they have sex back at Russell's apartment. The next morning, Glen coaxes a hesitant Russell to speak into a voice recorder about their experience the previous night. Glen tells him this is for an art project. The more reserved Russell is taken aback by Glen's blunt discussion of sex. After Russell finishes, they exchange numbers and Glen leaves. Russell is shown writing about Glen on his laptop, evidently something he does after each of his encounters.
Russell, who works as a lifeguard, spends a lonely morning at the pool, at one point intently watching a gay couple interact. He texts Glen, who agrees to meet. The two begin to learn about each other's careers, their aspirations, and even share a bicycle ride back to Russell's flat, where they continue to discover more about each other's pasts. Glen explains that his art project seeks to explore the gap between who people truly are and who they want to be, as demonstrated by the personas they take on when hooking up with someone new for the first time. Russell reveals that he never came out to his parents because he doesn't know who they are; he grew up in a series of foster homes with his best friend Jamie. Growing closer after their conversation, they have sex.
About to leave, Glen then discloses that he had been planning to move to Oregon the next day to attend a two-year art course. Both are visibly upset, but stay affectionate. On a whim, Glen invites him to his goodbye party at a straight bar that night, and later Russell decides to go. While Glen is getting into an argument about heteronormativity with the bar owner, Russell chats with Jill, Glen's friend and flatmate. She first tells Russell that she never got to listen to his recording; Glen had let her listen to all of his others. She then confides in Russell that she and her friends don't expect Glen to follow through with his trip to America, to the point that they've started a bet. She also discloses that Glen had been in a relationship with someone named John, who cheated on Glen repeatedly and was attacked at a park shortly before the relationship ended. Since then, Glen has said he "doesn't do boyfriends."
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