Keep the Aspidistra Flying (released in the United States and New Zealand A Merry War) is a 1997 romance

Romance film

Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...

/comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 film directed by Robert Bierman

Robert Bierman

Robert Bierman is a British film and television director.Bierman was originally scheduled to direct The Fly , but due to personal tragedy was unable to commit to the project. In 1989 he directed Vampire's Kiss...

 and based on the comic novel

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying, first published 1936, is a socially critical novel by George Orwell. It is set in 1930s London. The main theme is Gordon Comstock's romantic ambition to defy worship of the money-god and status, and the dismal life that results....

 by George Orwell

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

. The screenplay was written by Alan Plater

Alan Plater

Alan Frederick Plater, CBE, FRSL was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s.-Career:...

 and was produced by Peter Shaw

Peter Shaw

Peter Shaw may refer to:* Peter Shaw , English physician and medical author* Peter Shaw , kidnapped in June 2002* Peter Shaw , British actor and film producer, husband of actress Angela Lansbury...

. The film stars Richard E. Grant

Richard E. Grant

Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...

 as Gordon Comstock and Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...

 as Rosemary.

Plot

Gordon Comstock (Grant), is a successful copywriter at a flourishing advertising firm in 1930's London. His girlfriend and co-worker, Rosemary (Bonham-Carter), fears he may never settle down with her when he suddenly disavows his money-based lifestyle and quits his job for the artistic satisfaction of writing poetry.

Cast

• Richard E. Grant
  Richard E. Grant
  Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
  
   as Gordon Comstock
• Helena Bonham Carter
  Helena Bonham Carter
  Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
  
   as Rosemary
• Julian Wadham
  Julian Wadham
  -Career:He has appeared on television as both Charles II and George V...
  
   as Ravelston
• Jim Carter
  Jim Carter
  Jim Carter is an English actor.-Early life:Carter was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. His father worked for the Air Ministry and his mother was a land girl and later a school secretary...
  
   as Erskine
• Harriet Walter
  Harriet Walter
  Dame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
  
   as Julia Comstock
• Lesley Vickerage
  Lesley Vickerage
  Lesley Vickerage is an English actress best known for her roles as WPC Jenny Dean in the British television series Between the Lines and as Helen Lynley in the British television series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries....
  
   as Hermione
• Barbara Leigh-Hunt
  Barbara Leigh-Hunt
  Barbara Leigh-Hunt , Bath, England, is a British actress who has appeared on stage, film, television and radio.-Career:...
  
   as Mrs. Wisbeach (credited as Barbara Leigh Hunt)
• Liz Smith
  Liz Smith (actress)
  Liz Smith, MBE is a British actress, best-known for her roles in the sitcoms The Vicar of Dibley and The Royle Family. She also appeared in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
  
   as Mrs. Meakin
• John Clegg as McKechnie