Alan Bennett's script for this provocative black comedy biopic of brilliant 60s gay writer Joe Orton is diamond sharp. Despite the wealth his brilliant plays brought him, he continued to live frugally in a cramped bedsit with his lover, failed actor-writer Kenneth Halliwell - a bizarre love-hate relationship that eventually led to appalling tragedy. The young Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina are absolutely excellent as this odd couple, and extremely well supported by Vanessa Redgrave, Frances Barber and Julie Walters as Orton's agent, sister and mother. It contains strong language and sex references and is obviously not for the easily shocked. Its cinema revival 20 years on in 2007 reveals its continued power and relevance.

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