2020  Comedy, Drama, Biograhy – 95 mins, Cert 12

Director: Roger Michell

Starring: Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Heather Craney, Stephen Rashbrook 


Released in February 2022, The Duke tells the story of Kempton Bunton, a 60 year old bus driver who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Portrait Gallery in London in 1961. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. He sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend.


 

THE DUKE, directed by Roger Michell in his final feature film before his untimely death in September 2021 the film is a charming, understated and extremely likeable crime caper comedy about how ordinary people can do extraordinary things that seem doubly startling because, while seeming implausible, it also happens to be absolutely true.  Jim Broadbent plays Kempton Bunton, a real-life figure who achieved notoriety in the mid-60s after the theft of Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery. When the painting went AWOL the authorities suspected highly organised international criminals, only for his long-suffering wife Dorothy (played by Helen Mirren) to come across it in her home.  The story is told as an unashamedly old-fashioned underdog tale and Broadbent is terrific in the lead, with a winning blend of fearlessness and foolishness . Helen Mirren deserves plaudits too for her ability to turn exasperation into an art form.

An impressive 84% score from audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes – this film is not to be missed.

Click here to read about Death on the Nile on IMDb

Bookings – Email: filmnight@rockbournevillagehall.org.uk

Phone: Lucy Matthews – 01725 518695

Doors open @ 7.00pm – Film @ 7.30pm Cost £6

Supper @ 9.40pm Cost £7, wine £12 per bottle

Last bookings @ 12.00 Sunday 18 September 2022

Dates for your diary:

October Film – Operation Mincemeat – Wednesday 19 October 2022

 
Covid Policy for Film Nights
In order to do all we can to protect our audiences we ask all attendees to please take a lateral flow test on the day of the Film and not to attend should it prove positive.