The Lost Weekend
£10 / £8 Concessions / £7 ICA Members
Billy Wilder’s Oscar-winning noir classic returns to screens with its gripping tale of alcoholism and existential angst. Irrevocably chained to the bottle, Welshman Ray Milland is Don Birnam, a struggling, down-and-out writer surviving only by the good grace of his brother Wick and his naively optimistic girlfriend Helen. One evening, free of their mediating influence, Don embarks on a debauched five-day binge that takes him into a pit of despair and degeneracy.
Made at a time when attitudes toward drinking culture were relatively laissez-faire, this adaptation of Charles R. Jackson’s novel was among the first to paint the vice in such a negative light. Even today, Lost Weekend makes for raw, uncomfortable but compelling viewing, with Wilder’s consummate touch the vermouth in the martini of a riveting portrayal of addiction and loss of dignity.
Billy Wilder’s Oscar-winning noir classic returns to screens with its gripping tale of alcoholism and existential angst. Don Birnam, a struggling, down-and-out writer embarks on a debauched five-day binge that will take him into a pit of despair and degeneracy.
Cast: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman.
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