What's the name of this BBC documentary about a drunk ad executive

[Retinend]

That was a sad one... what with the support network he had (and what was with his cousin who gave him a house rent-free? she sounded absolutely barmy) he had a better than average chance of living to tell his tale, but in the end he had too much of a death wish. Fancy burning down the house twice...

I am reminded of behaviors that I've observed for myself in alcoholics (and so excuse me if this post rambles from the film into half-connected personal memories): particularly that "mañana, mañana..." attitude, where they insist there is aaaaaample time for every imminent problem to be solved, just so long as they can drink enough to get through the day (and, in a double-bind, it is medically true that, in the short term, they will die without alcohol). Back in the day, this sort of attitude would have been ideal for a man in his position: an editor at a magazine, juggling a hundred jobs at once, every day.

There's also the "Jekyll and Hyde" phenomenon, where the drink-persona is charming, convincing, yet callow, whereas the true self is only revealed in moments of distress and despair - erratic actions - and the fake persona slowly gains dominance over the true self: a bright man with original thoughts becomes a tiresome, boastful old drunk with a set repertoire of patter. They present you with what they think you want to see: all-singing, all-dancing, all-joking. When you see the real person emerge for moments, you can see them reflecting on a question like a real person, rather than calculating which conversational gambit to use next, like playing a card from a deck.

Brian is also always talking about his secret "plans" to repair his situation, in such a way that suggests that everything is under control, and that you should trust him and his plans and his competence. As a magazine editor he will have had to have been very charming on making first impressions, and to suppress any signs of insecurity. He also apparently couldn't even be himself in his romantic relationships - he admits that he never loved either of his long-term partners. What I see in the Brian of 2001 is the drink-persona being used as a wall to shut out the filmmakers, with the real person only coming out when he is thwarted while caught on camera.

Because of the boastful drink-persona that dominates his speech, he seems obsessed with his past... but I wonder how much he really thinks about his past, since he must be aware that the media (such as the documentary crew filming him) would love a riches-to-rags-to-riches story, and he could have that lifestyle back if he truly valued the high life over his alcohol. It seems like when his mother died, he just gave up and surrendered to the drink as his method of suicide.

Bleak shit, but a bloody good documentary.

[Replies From View]

Yes, I'm positively sure that he misplaced himself onto the roof of a hotel for no reason...

I haven't double-checked, but from the documentary I perceived the roof doors as a quite tempting opening from the stairwell.  No step-up required from the landing - it was practically a doorway to a balcony.  And it could be accessed by going down the stairs from the top floor.  On a cool summer's evening I'd certainly go out there myself.  Fucked to the hilt on booze it's not that far-fetched he'd end up stumbling out there, simply drawn to the fresh air and calm quiet sky.

[C_Larence]

At first the fact that he went back to London made me think it was possibly deliberate, the natural conclusion to his increasing mania. Similar to how parasites will get in an ant and force it up a tree before exploding out of its body. On the other hand, he booked a hotel, which suggests he was intending to sleep over there, and if he really wanted to kill himself he could have done it back in the Liverpool suburbs.

[Replies From View]

I wonder if he actually thought the documentary process might somehow save him.  You know, those involved could have taken him under their wing, given him somewhere to stay, an office, a couple of jobs to get him started, that kind of thing.  There is undoubtedly something rather cruel about treating him like the subject of a nature documentary, simply observing him deteriorate like so many gazelles taken down by lions.  He may have hoped for more of an intervention, and on a human level, that wouldn't have been an unreasonable hope.

As the process wound down, and he knew the filming was coming to an end, maybe he realised he wouldn't be getting any more from the crew than they'd given him, and if it was suicide, it may have coincided with that.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

They *did* offer to buy him some more chips, to be fair.

I also like the exterior scenes of the pubs he walks into, and you can hear him cheerily ordering a pint and a large Scotch, or what have you. Did they mike him up before he walked into the pub, or did they get him to add those orders in pog voice- over form, post- recording ( before he carked it, orbviously) ?

[Billy]

I presumed they had one evening of pub filming early on and then just dubbed sound clips from that over the various exterior shots.