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Proving himself to be as versatile as he is prolific, Kenneth Branagh's third feature film marks a distinct change of pace. Being neither a literary epic like Henry V or a Hollywoodesque thriller like Dead Again, Peter's Friends appears to be another dramatic departure for this variously talented actor/director of stage and screen.
A contemporary comic-drama set amidst the palatial comforts of a resplendent English country manor, it features the finest of character acting and writing. The garrulous and gangly Peter (Stephen Fry) decides to host a reunion of his friends at his huge country estate, for its New Year's Eve and the end of the 80's. Ten years earlier they had belonged to the same theatrical troupe and he feels it is time for reflection, of both looking backwards and forwards, for much has changed. As this decidedly disparate bunch descend on the manor house from all points of the globe, Peter's well-orchestrated event is constantly in danger of going off the tracks. It proves however, as reunions do, to be full of pleasantries and surprises, where the past has a tendency to rear its head and interfere with the present.
Already being called the British Big Chill, the film is, by turns, spontaneously delightful and surprisingly sad with the experienced cast relishing the opportunity to work as an ensemble. Peter's Friends holds you enthralled and off-balance as a series of revelations combine to create a lively mosaic of the lives and loves of Peter and his friends, in this decidedly funny/bittersweet farewell to an era.