The British cult sensation gets a DVD re-release ...

Initially, Lunch Hour has the appearance of a light-hearted office romance – the shy, awkward business executive (Stephens) attempting to win the affections of a young attractive designer (Field) at the company. They can only meet in their lunch breaks, but are never able to find anywhere they can be alone together. Their attempts at romance are presented in an easygoing and often comical way, with naturalistic wide shots of the workplace, and a soft and jazzy score.

Despite this, there is the constant and uncomfortable fact that Stephens’ character is 13 years Fields' senior, as well as already being married. The cheery, relaxed tone is somewhat at odds with such dark and seedy subject matter. Fields manner is at first nonchalant, as she seems to float along with the general current of the story. Her performance really comes into its own, however, when she makes the change from a happy-go-lucky, free-thinking woman of the 60’s, just looking for fun, to being horrified and infuriated at this the scale of this man’s lies.

The lies the man tells seem fairly trivial, made up on the spot in order to secure a room in their lunch hour, and the scale of her reaction does (at times) border on farce. Following her furious response there is an extended sequence within her conception of her pursuer's elaborate fibs.

Don’t worry, it’s not as Inception as it sounds, though it does play out like an extended dream sequence. Fields’ character is shown as the frustrated housewife, having to leave her fictional children with their fictional dragon of an auntie in order to see her husband. This turns out to be an effective device, on Hill's part, to get his audience to sympathize with this woman instead of seeing a histrionic over-reaction.

A combination of a stellar lead performance, artistic-yet-engaging direction and a marvellous supporting cast make ‘Lunch Hour’ highly worthy of its celebratory re-release on Blu-ray and DVD. It comes highly recommended for any self-respecting film buff, and is sufficiently charming and funny to appeal to a wider audience.

Extras

Three of Hills’ short films that he made with BP are included. The first is Skyhook, a documentary-style film about the construction of an oil rig in Papa New Guinea. The Home Made Car is a dialogue-free comedy of a man building a car from scratch under the watchful eyes of his young neighbor. Giuseppina, by far the strongest of the three, is a story told through the eyes of a little girl living with her family at a petrol station, observing the interesting characters that pass by.

Hill’s stamp is undoubtedly apparent on all three, and it makes for interesting viewing to see how he adapts his film-making style in order to suit publicity films for BP (whose presence in the films varies in subtlety, from the BP petrol station Giuseppina’s family lives and works at, to the Home Made Car being filled at a BP service station).

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