- Dirty Pretty Things (film)
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Dirty Pretty Things 
Promotional film posterDirected by Stephen Frears Produced by Robert Jones
Tracey SeawardWritten by Steven Knight Starring Audrey Tautou, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Sophie Okonedo Music by Nathan Larson Cinematography Chris Menges Editing by Mick Audsley Release date(s) 13 December 2002 Running time 93 minutes Country United Kingdom Language English Budget $10 million Box office $13,904,766[1] Dirty Pretty Things is a 2002 film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight, a drama about two illegal immigrants in London. It was produced by the Celador Films production company.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won a British Independent Film Award for "Best Independent British Film" in 2003.
Contents
Plot
Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a Nigerian man who drives a cab in London during the day and works at the front desk of a hotel at night — chewing khat (a stimulant) to keep awake. Okwe was formerly a doctor in Nigeria. In London he is pressed into giving medical treatment to other poor immigrants — including fellow cab drivers with venereal diseases. Okwe's friend Guo Yi (Benedict Wong), an employee at a hospital mortuary, provides him with antibiotics under the table.
A prostitute known as Juliette (Sophie Okonedo) tells Okwe to check a room in which she was staying and he finds the toilet overflowing. While fishing out the blockage, he finds a human heart. The manager of the hotel, Juan (Sergi López), runs an illegal operation at the hotel where immigrants swap kidneys for forged passports. After learning of Okwe's past as a doctor, Juan pressures him to join his operation as a surgeon, but Okwe refuses.
Okwe shares an apartment with Senay (Audrey Tautou). Senay is a Turkish woman who works as a maid in the same hotel. The two immigrants form a friendship, but their situation becomes complicated when immigration police begin to chase her and suspect that she is working against the terms of her status. Okwe moves out of Senay's flat and Guo Yi illicitly lets Okwe have some space in the hospital mortuary for accommodation. Senay quits her job at the hotel and takes a job in a clothing sweatshop. However, after two days at her new job she has to hide from immigration police, who visit the sweatshop. Using this as blackmail, the sweatshop owner solicits sexual favours from her. In the second or third instance however, she bites his penis while administering oral sex and flees. She leaves her apartment and runs to Okwe, who hides her in the mortuary.
In desperation, Senay then turns to Juan and agrees to exchange a kidney for a passport. As a "deal maker", Juan takes her virginity as well, and later Juliette provides her with the morning-after pill. After learning of Senay's plan, Okwe tells Juan that he will perform the operation to ensure her safety, but only if Juan provides them both with passports. However, Okwe and Senay drugged Juan instead, surgically removed his kidney and sold it to Juan's contact.
The film ends with Senay and Okwe at Stansted Airport, where he must return to his young daughter, Valerie, in Nigeria (where he had been wrongly accused of his wife's murder) while Senay follows her dream to start a new life in New York City. Before they part, however, she gives him her cousin's address in New York. In the closing scene, they mouth "I love you" to each other. Senay boards the plane to New York to begin life anew and Okwe calls Valerie to tell her that he is finally coming home.
Cast
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Okwe
- Audrey Tautou as Senay
- Sophie Okonedo as Juliette
- Sergi López as Sneaky (Juan)
- David Hoggard as Asian businessman
- Israel Aduramo as Mini cab driver
- Yemi Ajibade as Mini cab driver
- Nizwar Karanj as Mini cab driver
- Dhobi Oparei as Mini cab driver
- Jeffery Kissoon as Cab Controller
- Zlatko Buric as Ivan
- Benedict Wong as Guo Yi
- Kenan Hudaverdi as Cafe owner
- Damon Younger as Punter
- Paul Bhattacharjee as Mohammed
References
External links
- Dirty Pretty Things at the Internet Movie Database
- Dirty Pretty Things at AllRovi
- Dirty Pretty Things at Rotten Tomatoes
- Dirty Pretty Things at Box Office Mojo
- Dirty Pretty Things at Metacritic
BIFA Award for Best British Independent Film My Name Is Joe (1998) · Wonderland (1999) · Billy Elliot (2000) · Sexy Beast (2001) · Sweet Sixteen (2002) · Dirty Pretty Things (2003) · Vera Drake (2004) · The Constant Gardener (2005) · This Is England (2006) · Control (2007) · Slumdog Millionaire (2008) · Moon (2009) · The King's Speech (2010)
Films directed by Stephen Frears 1970s 1980s Walter and June (1983) · December Flower (1984) · The Hit (1984) · My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) · Prick Up Your Ears (1987) · Mr Jolly Lives Next Door (1987) · Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987) · Dangerous Liaisons (1988)1990s The Grifters (1990) · Hero (1992) · The Snapper (1993) · Mary Reilly (1996) · The Van (1996) · The Hi-Lo Country (1998)2000s High Fidelity (2000) · Liam (2000) · Fail Safe (2000) · Dirty Pretty Things (2002) · The Deal (2003) · Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) · The Queen (2006) · Cheri (2009)2010s Tamara Drewe (2010) · Lay the Favorite (2012)Categories:- 2002 films
- British films
- English-language films
- 2000s thriller films
- British thriller films
- Crime thriller films
- Edgar Award winning works
- Films directed by Stephen Frears
- Films set in London
- Social realism in film
- Somali-language films
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