actually

Have you seen Abigail's Party? It's one of Mike Leigh's films from the 70s, complete with so so 70s clothes and furniture and sensibilities. I watched it recently with the Good Ex, one of his other exes and her husband. They'd all seen it multiple times but refrained from shouting out the lines before the characters said them (thank you, because I really hate that) but we did all shout out a particular line when it the character reprised it twice within 5 minutes. It's a film that's a play, like Uncle Vanya on 42nd, or Dogville, so the actors are always climbing over each other in the living room set or shouting from the kitchen/entryway.

As the film goes on, the dominating main character, Beverly, grates on the nerves as she orchestrates the evening. The mousy character, Ang (Angela), makes retarded comments and agrees with everything Beverly says, as she grows slowly drunker and sillier. Her husband, Tony, sits mute and glowering through much of the film. Beverly's husband, Laurence, tries to save his dignity by engaging Sue, the mother of the titular Abigail, in conversation about art. About 2/3 of the way through, I was groaning and rolling around in my chair, wishing the damned thing would end. While it was funny, it was extremely uncomfortable, much like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

I tried to block it out of my memory, but yesterday the good ex kept saying "We got the price of the house down from 22,000 to 21,000" and giggling maniacally.