Taglines: It would be a scandal to miss it.
Scandal movie storyline. London, England 1959. Osteopath Dr. Stephen Ward (John Hurt) visits a local burlesque club where he spots Christine Keeler (Joann Walley-Kilmer), a gorgeous underage nightclub performer, and unsuccessfully attempts to get her telephone number. One week later, Christine is visiting her working class family in the countryside when Stephen drives up in his sports car and takes her to a large Tudor style cottage on the grounds of Lord William Astor’s (Leslie Phillips) estate.
Stephen explains that ‘Bill’ Astor lets him rent the cottage for only one British pound per year because he lets Astor cheat him at bridge. As Stephen gives Christine a tour of Cliveden, the large Astor manor, he explains that only people born to wealth and nobility, or the very beautiful, are invited to mingle with high society. He offers to tutor her for such a life.
Soon, Stephen takes control of Christine’s look, turning her from a peroxide blonde to a brunette, and changing her clothes from “SoHo chic” to “Covent Garden sexy.” One night a few months later in October, after a party celebrating the Conservative Party winning Britain’s general election, Stephen invites a few politicians to his apartment for an orgy. After getting over her initial shock, Christine joins in.
The next night, Christine enters the nightclub dressing room to find Mandy Rice-Davies (Bridget Fonda), a cool blonde, sitting in her makeup chair. Christine orders her to move, but Mandy refuses until the other girls gang up on her. Later, the girls dress as “Indians” for a dance number. Someone steals Mandy’s top, but Christine observes that the girl is so slight, no one will notice. During the number, a frustrated Mandy appears topless, upstaging Christine. After the show, Christine overhears Mandy lying to her mother over the phone about how exciting the nightclub is. When Mandy hangs up, Christine asks her out for a drink and the two of them become close friends.
Afterward, Christine is helping Mandy sneak her possessions out of her apartment when they are caught by the landlady. Christine runs outside, where Lord Astor is waiting in his Rolls Royce. Pretending to cry, Christine embarrasses Astor into giving Mandy a check for 40 pounds to keep the landlady from calling the police. Mandy moves in with Christine and Stephen at his row-house, who parades the two girls before his wealthy friends.
At one party, Stephen introduces Christine and Mandy to Eugene Ivanov (Jeroen Krabbe), a military attache for the Soviet embassy. On another night, the girls go to “Club 21.” There, they meet an American “Matinee Idol” (Trevor Eve) (loosely based on actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; one of Christine and Mandy’s many clients). After pantomiming lesbian sex, they engage in a menage à trois with the Matinee Idol.
In July 1961, Stephen’s friendship with Ivanov catches the attention of a certain “Mr. Woods” (Oliver Ford Davies), a member of British Military Intelligence (MI5), who asks Stephen to keep an eye on the Soviet attache. Stephen invites Ivanov to Cliveden, where Christine can be seen diving into the swimming pool.
When Lord Astor leads his dinner guest, Minister of War John Profumo (Ian McKellan), to the cottage, they find Christine dancing naked for Stephen and Ivanov. Christine tries to run inside the house, but Profumo catches her. They stare at each other in silence until flood lights are turned on to reveal Lady Astor, Valerie Profumo, and others of Astor’s party guests. Mrs. Profumo wraps a towel around Christine and separates the girl from her husband.
Scandal is a 1989 British drama film, a fictionalised account of the Profumo affair that rocked the government of British prime minister Harold Macmillan. It stars Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler and John Hurt as Stephen Ward, personalities at the heart of the affair. The film was screened in competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. The theme song “Nothing Has Been Proved” was written and produced by Pet Shop Boys and sung by Dusty Springfield.
Filming began in June 1988. Part of Scandal was filmed at Bathurst Mews in Bayswater, London, although Ward’s house was actually at Wimpole Mews in Marylebone. The exterior of 29 Francis Street, Victoria, SW1 was used as the Police Station. Christine Keeler took part in a publicity shoot with photographer Lewis Morley for a 1963 film about the Profumo Affair, The Keeler Affair.
Under pressure to pose nude, Keeler agreed to sit straddling the chair with just the back of the chair as a screen. The film was never released in the United Kingdom, but the image became “one of the most famous and most imitated photographs ever published”. Joanne Whalley-Kilmer recreated the pose for the theatrical release poster.
Scandal (1989)
Directed by: Michael Caton-Jones
Starring: John Hurt, Joanne Whalley, Bridget Fonda, Ian McKellen, Leslie Phillips, Britt Ekland, Daniel Massey, Roland Gift, Jean Alexander, Alex Norton, Ronald Fraser, Paul Brooke
Screenplay by: Michael Thomas
Production Design by: Simon Holland
Cinematography by: Mike Molloy
Film Editing by: Angus Newton
Costume Design by: Jane Robinson
Art Direction by: Chris Townsend
Music by: Carl Davis
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexuality, and for language.
Distributed by: Miramax Films
Release Date: March 3, 1989
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