Omar is a young man living in 1980s London. His father, Hussein (Roshan Seth), is a Pakistani journalist who lives in London but hates Britain and its international politics. His dissatisfaction with the world and a family tragedy has caused his alcoholism to take over, so that Omar has to take care of him. By contrast, Omar's paternal uncle Nasser is a successful entrepreneur and an active member of the London Pakistani community. Omar's father asks his uncle to give him a job and, after working for a brief time as a car washer in one of his uncle's garages, he is assigned the task of running a run-down laundrette and turning it into a profitable business.
At Nasser's, Omar meets a few other members of the Pakistani community: Tania, Nasser's daughter and possibly a future bride; and Salim, who traffics drugs and hires him to deliver them from the airport. While driving Salim and his wife home that night, the three of them get attacked by a group of right-wing extremists shouting racist slogans. Among them, Omar recognizes an old friend of his, Johnny. Omar asks Johnny to resume their friendship. Johnny decides to help with the laundrette and they resume a romantic relationship which (it is implied) had been interrupted after school. Running out of money, Omar and Johnny sell one of Salim's drug deliveries to make cash for the laundrette redecoration.
The laundrette becomes a success. At the opening day, Nasser visits the store with his mistress, Rachel. They dance together in the laundrette while Omar and Johnny are having sex in the back room. Omar and Johnny are almost caught by Nasser, but Omar claims they were sleeping. Tania confronts Rachel about having an affair with her father, Nasser. Nasser and Rachel leave the laundrette and fight, Rachel storms off. She later falls ill with a skin rash apparently caused by a potion made by his wife, and decides to leave him.
Omar proposes to Tania, but she decides to leave. She drops by and asks Johnny to go away with her; he refuses because he does not want to leave Omar, and she departs. Omar's father also stops by and appeals to Johnny to persuade Omar to go to college, unhappy with his son running a laundrette. Omar decides to take over two laundrettes owned by a friend of Nasser, with the help of Salim. Salim drives Johnny and Omar to view one of the properties, and he expresses his dislike of the British non-working punks. Salim attempts to run over the group of punks who had previously attacked Omar's car and injures one of them. The group of working class punks decide to wait for Salim around the laundrette. They ambush and attack him, until Johnny decides to save him, despite their mutual dislike.
The film cuts to Nasser visiting Omar's father, and their discussion about Omar's future. Nasser sees Tania at a train platform while she is running away. Meanwhile, Johnny's friends decide to attack him for supporting the Pakistani community, and beat him savagely until he is saved by Omar. Omar proceeds to clean up his wounds, and the two bond. The film ends with them playfully splashing each other with water while topless, implying they are continuing their relationship.
Director: Stephen Frears
Release Date: November 16, 1985
Budget: £650,000
Main Characters: Daniel Day Lewis, Roshan Seth, Saeed Jaffrey, Gordon Warnecke
Studio: Working title Films
My beautiful Laundrette tackles many issues, including homosexuality, racism and identity as well as Britain’s economic and political policies during the period of the 1980’s when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister. The film, directed by Stephen Frears, is set in an Asian community within London and primarily focuses on the character of Omar (Gordon Warnecke) and his endeavour to become successful in the business world. After being given his Uncle Nasser’s laundrette to run, he offers a former friend Johnny (Daniel Day Lewis) to help him and the plot soon begins to revolve around both their complex relationship and that of other characters within the narrative however to a degree there remains a tenuous relationship between the white community and the Asian throughout the film and this in itself questions identity and belonging and the way in which migrants are perceived.
Relationships between characters are fundamental in demonstrating both questions of belonging and identity, notably the relationship between Johnny and Omar. Johnny fits neither in the white community or the Asian, though he took part in a right wing extremist march his romance with Omar proves his views are inconsistent with his stereotypically ‘skin head’ friends. As Omar drives home Salim, a drug trafficker who works closely with his uncle Nasser, and his wife, the three of them are ambushed by a group of right wing extremists who shout racist slogans at them and it is here that Omar recognises his old friend Johnny and attempts to resume their friendship. The fact the two recommence their friendship in such a way links to the divide between the communities and the prejudice they experience where the reactions of Johnny’s friends suggest such a relationship, even as friends is unacceptable. However rather than their reunion being symbolic of an overall reunion between Asian and White communities the reactions from both communities suggest that nothing will change and that relationships between these individual groups are exceptional and perhaps ‘one offs’. This is reinforced by the fact the relationships between white characters and Asian are seen by society as wrong in terms of Johnny and Omar’s homosexuality and Nasser and Rachel’s infidelity. The parallel between relationships is further constructed in the scene of the opening of the laundrette where while Omar and Johnny are having sex Rachel and Nasser are dancing together, in terms of society views Omar should be married to Tania while Nasser should remain faithful to his wife and this emphasises the ‘alien’ nature of such relationships and how they compromise with the characters ‘true’ identities.
After Omar’s mother committed suicide, his father became an alcoholic and relied on Omar for everything, therefore Omar was left with the responsibility of both parents in terms of the housework and being the stereotypical breadwinner of the household. This in itself can be viewed as Omar shouldering a false sense of belonging, the lack of a female presence within the household has forced him to become the motherly figure within the house where he cooks, cleans and cares for his father. This is primarily established by the use of cinematography where an over the shoulder shot is used of Omar cleaning the bathroom while looking out the window at an incoming train. In terms of semiotics the train signifies Omar’s mother’s death, acting as a constant reminder of her lack of presence within the house while the fact the noises of the train are continuously heard, specifically as Omar goes about his daily jobs, demonstrates how Omar’s mother’s death haunts the house and this links back to the false sense of identity and belonging Omar had had to take on due to her death and how he can’t escape this.
Context:
The film is set in London during the 1980's when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister of England. This time period saw great social, economic, and general change as wealth and production migrated to newly industrializing economies, such a change in the economy and wealth is demonstrated by Nasser's stress on the importance of business and money. This was also the period when the aids pandemic began and this is in important because gay men in many countries were frequently singled out for abuse as they were seen to be responsible for the spread of HIV.
