Based on the true-life story of Guy Burgess, this is a study of homosexuality at a public school in the Thirties and how persecution led ultimately to one of the young men involved defecting to the Russians from the Diplomatic Corps. The ritual of public school life is hideously well observed, even if the story's grip is hardly vicelike. Rupert Everett is exceptionally good as the languorous 'Bennett' who flouts school conventions to his eventual cost. Selected for the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, where it received an award for Best Artistic Contribution (specifically cinematographer Peter Biziou), the film also won Everett a BAFTA nomination the following year.


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