Film / Eskimo Day

"They won't remember us bringing them up; they'll think it was always like this, that we were always like this. They'll think we were always a hundred years old."

Eskimo Day is a 1996 British TV drama by Jack Rosenthal, on the theme of parents reluctantly coming to terms with their children growing up and becoming independent. The film follows various families as their teenage children have their interviews at the prestigious Queens' College at the University of Cambridge. Their parents accompany them to Cambridge, and have difficulty in watching them take those first steps towards independence, and some of them try too hard to ensure their children's success.

In the family of modest means from Oop North Blackburn, Neil Whittle (Benedict Sandiford) is accompanied by his very loving father Bevis (David Ross) and superstitious mother Shani (Maureen Lipman), while Pippa Lloyd (Laura Howard) from the wealthy family from Cheltenham is accompanied by her overbearing narcissistic father Hugh (Tom Wilkinson), and downtrodden mother Harriet (Anna Carteret). The two families meet, and share the dramatic realisation that an Empty Nest is forthcoming.

In a third family, anxious Malcolm (Grant Warnock) travels alone to Cambridge, but his equally anxious mother (Kathryn Pogson) secretly follows him, and asks local townsfolk to chat to him about how he got on.

Meanwhile, the parental roles are reversed when Simon (James Fleet), a middle-aged interviewer at Queens' College, is trying to get his elderly father James (Alec Guinness) into sheltered accommodation. James is a retired professor whose mind is as sharp as ever, and finds the process deeply infantilising, saying "ask me why children turn their parents into children".

A sequel was made in 1997, Cold Enough For Snow, which followed Neil, Pippa and their parents through their exams, the summer, and their first term at university.

---

Eskimo Day provides examples of:

• Affectionate Nickname: Pippa is known as "Muffin" by her mother; things are serious if her father calls her this.
  Pippa: It's a gesture of affection from my mother, and a sign of total panic from my father. I am normally just yelled at as "Pippa". Almost as pathetic, isn't it?
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Most of the parents in this film.
  Pippa: There's no point telling my two anything. I just wish they'd get a life, instead of mine.
• Badass Boast: Hugh boasts to Bevis about being a fantastic father to Pippa (which he is not), and about his daughter's supposed achievements at school.
  Hugh: Ten A's in her GCSE's, head girl, edits the school magazine, fencing champion; Queens' material, through and through.
• Bittersweet 17: The parents are seeing their children become young adults.
  Hugh: (Repeated line) We're watching her go, Harriet.
• Bleak Abyss Retirement Home: Simon, an interviewer at Cambridge, is trying to get his elderly but very intellectual father James into sheltered accommodation, going to great lengths to make sure this happens. James's mind is as sharp as ever, and he is not impressed when a man and a woman show him round the building, especially when he learns that there is no bingo at all.
  Man: We have very few rules as such: common sense really, i.e. properly dressed in all communal areas; getting on with other residents; no falling out over who gets the best garden bench in the summer.
  Woman: Or having our televisions and radios on too loud and annoying people, we'd be annoyed if others did it to us.
  Man: We're colour-coordinated, naturally. Blue for boys. (Indicates blue handrail). Included in the price of course is the use of all our communal facilities: tea and coffee here in the lounge.
  Woman: A little library bursting with thrillers and Reader's Digests: Christmas parties with a conjuror, you name it.
  Man: Now, does your father have any questions for us, Dr Poole?
  Simon: No. I think we'll go now if you don't mind: home, James.
  Woman: (dismayed) But I don't understand!
  Simon: (gravely) I do. Now I do.
  James: There's no bingo at all?
  Man: It led to arguments.
  James: (smiling) Of course.
• Book Ends: At the very beginning, Bevis muses on the phrases "unholy hour", and "godforsaken place", and how the adjectives are not interchangeable. He returns to this at the end.
  Bevis: "Godforsaken" and "unholy" mean the same thing really, so why is it one for one, and the other for the other? We'll ask our Neil, he'll know.
• Brick Joke:
  • Malcolm has a lengthy debate with two cabbies about whether to walk to Queens', or take a taxi (see Ditzy Genius). When he returns, he meets one of the cabbies again, and starts telling the bemused cabby how he got on in his usual Non-Answer fashion, as several people have asked him how he did.
  • Malcolm jerks away when his mum tries to tidy his hair. Rosemary does likewise when her dad tries to take her arm.
  • Just after Malcolm has taken directions from a cabby, at first he walks in the wrong direction (see Ditzy Genius). At Queens' College, in a Funny Background Event, he is seen walking first in one direction, then the other, presumably realising he had gone the wrong way.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Middle-aged Simon usually addresses his father as "James". He only calls him "father" when making a heartfelt appeal to his better nature.
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject: James often changes the subject to intellectual matters, when Simon is trying to make him attend to mundane matters such as moving into a retirement home.
  Simon: Father, please. Admit defeat. Surrender with dignity. You can't live like this any more.
  James: Like what?
  Simon: On your own. You won't live with me and Gillian, so this afternoon is your only alternative, everything depends on you.
  James: (Picking up a book) Have you read this? Who wrote this balderdash? Ah, I did! Guilty.
• Clock Tower: Just before Neil and Pippa's interviews, there is a montage of various clock towers striking midday, highlighting the momentous occasion.
• Contrived Coincidence:
  • Shani again meets the woman that Bevis had splashed earlier (see Roadside Wave) in the street, and the same woman arrives at their cafe, to apply for a job.
    Shani: Hello again, again!
  • Shani mentions that if you walk under a ladder, you have to cross your fingers until you see a dog. Just then, a Big Issue seller passes, with a dog.
• Crazy-Prepared: The father of Rosemary, a computer science student, goes to absurd lengths to make sure she is in peak mental condition, by making her go for a twenty-minute run just before her interview, to boost her adrenalin level. This backfires when she twists her ankle, and has to attend her interview with a crutch.
  Shani: Is your daughter applying for keep fit, studying gymnastics?
  Rosemary's dad: Computer science. It's lateral thinking on my part: twenty minutes' physical exertion, then a glass of Pepsi when she gets back. It's peak adrenalin level, essential for peak mental condition.
  Shani: But won't be... perspiring, to some extent?
  Rosemary's dad: She'll wash herself down in the ladies. Soap, towel, talc, all organised.
  Shani: Thanks, I was just interested. (turns to Neil)
  Neil: Don't even think about it, mother. I've no intention of breaking into a mild hop.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Neil, usually in response to his mother's superstitious ways.
    Neil: (after his mother has been minding the cracks in the ground) One more, and I go back home. On foot. Stepping on every crack from here to Blackburn. Stamping on 'em. And if I miss one, I'll come back and start again.
  • James, in response to Simon's over-the-top efforts to get him into sheltered accommodation.
    James: Ask me why globalism produces tribalism. Ask me why life-simplifying technology makes life so complicated. Ask me why the more we learn, the less we know. Ask me why the highest seats of learning produce cabinet ministers with the nous of the lowest earthworm. Ask me why children turn their parents into children. Ask Carlton Sheltered Homes why they think I'd even want one of their lousy flats in the first place! Ask me why shoelaces won't stay fastened these days.
• Ditzy Genius: Only the brightest students need apply to Queen's college; this film makes comedy of some of them being hopelessly impractically minded. The porter at Queen's college sympathetically dismisses an interviewee who has come a week early, and many of the locals in Cambridge know that it is "interview week", and the city will be full of wandering interviewees, possibly travelling a long way from home by themselves for the first time. This is shown in a scene when middle-class Malcolm debates with a pair of working-class cabbies whether to take a taxi.
  Cabby: Yes, master?
  Malcolm: Well... the thing is, shall I walk it, or take a taxi?
  Cabby: Bit pointless asking us, sunshine, we're biased. Where are you going?
  Malcolm: Queens' College.
  Cabby: Down there, first on the right, right again, left into Silver Street, and it's on your right. Not too far when you say it quickly. (smiles and opens cab door)
  Malcolm: That's probably my best bet: walking.
  Cabby: Oh, I see. (Closes door)
  Malcolm: It will keep my mind off things, I won't need a cab... (hesitates) really.
  Cabby: What would you like us to say, sonny? Tell us, and we'll say it. That's what we're here for: a sort of mobile Citizen's Advice Bureau.
  Malcolm: No, it's OK thanks. (Walks off in wrong direction)
  Cabby: Oi! (grins and points in opposite direction; then speaks to his mate) They're the cream of Britain's intelligentsia, I believe.
• Dizzy Cam: Used at the same time as an Ethereal Choir when the parents realise that their children are almost out of their lives, leaving the parents alone.
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: When Harriet comes out of a church after praying for Pippa's success, she automatically starts lighting up a cigarette, until the sound of a church bell stops her in her tracks, and she remembers that she is supposed to have given up smoking.
• Empty Nest: The crux of the film. Although the moment of them actually leaving home is not featured, it is foreshadowed extremely poignantly, especially while Neil and Pippa are having their second interviews. Neil waves to his mother just before he disappears, which surprises both him and his mother; and all the parents have a sudden and dramatic realisation that their children will leave home, for good, and reflect upon all the things they had never taught them; that their parenting job is done, and their children have to make their own way in the world. This is the main theme of the latter part of the film, and the title "Eskimo Day" references the now-redundant parents, whose children have flown the nest.
  Shani: It's Eskimos, ain't it, that when they get old, and no use to no one, no more, they quietly sling their hooks, and toddle off into the snow, for good. Their kids don't much bother, because they're too busy, catching fish in holes, hoovering their igloos, and life goes on; theirs does. Not the poor old useless bugger lying in the snow, theirs doesn't.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The film's events take place in a single day, beginning just before dawn, and ending at dusk.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Hugh wants nothing more than for Pippa to attend Queen's College, Cambridge, and he grills her on this relentlessly.
  Pippa: (to Neil) If I don't get in, I think my dad will Semtex the place; and me; and my mother. Mostly my mother.
• Fortune Teller: Shani visits Madam Olga, a fortune teller, and tries to persuade Madam Olga to tell her what she wants to hear, about Neil attending Cambridge.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Of the main parents:
  • Phlegmatic: Bevis.
  • Sanguine: Shani.
  • Choleric: Hugh.
  • Melancolic: Harriet.
• Friendly Rivalry: As both Neil and Pippa are applying for English literature at Queens' College, their families are rivals. Hugh and Bevis indulge in competitive boasting about their children's supposed achievements.
  Hugh: Pippa should swing it OK, she's a real worker. Your Neil a little lazy, is he?
  Bevis: (in an unconvincing plummy voice) Neil? He's like a man possessed when he's studying, up half the night, many a night.
• Games of the Elderly: James refuses sheltered accommodation because there is no bingo at all.
• God:
  • Having been terrified by Hugh that she is responsible for Pippa's possible failure at interview, Harriet takes refuge in a church, while the figures in stained glass windows gaze sternly upon her.
  • Pippa sneers at Hugh trying to bribe God for favour before her interview, by being overly generous to a Big Issue seller.
    Seller: Big Issue, help the homeless help themselves, only 70p.
    Hugh: This is my treat. (Offers a £20 note to the seller)
    Seller: Sorry, mate, I can't change a twenty.
    Hugh: Don't worry about the change, old chap, it's all yours.
    Pippa: Dad, it's 70p! If you want to be generous, you give a pound at the most.
    Hugh: Compassion costs nothing, Pippa.
    Pippa: My interviews aren't with God! You can't bribe God!!
    Hugh: Don't be a silly Pippa, Pippa.
• Good Parents: Despite being embarrassing, the parents are generally shown in a sympathetic light, except Narcissist Hugh.
  Shani: (as Neil disappears for his first interview) Are you going to call out "good luck"?
  Bevis: Are you?
  Shani: I was just debating.
  Bevis: People might hear.
  Shani: It's not their flesh and blood!!
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: The word "bloody" is used a lot, which is swearing by Shani's standards.
  Shani: (hearing Harriet use the word "bloody") She got the swearing from Muffin.
• Green Around the Gills: When the nervous Malcolm is on the coach to Cambridge, a nearby passenger asks him if he is all right, saying he looks a bit green. The passenger then tells him a story about how he came close to winning a lottery ticket, and feels a bit green about the gills himself. In this scene, Malcolm does not actually turn green, but small moans of discomfort are heard from him.
• Hollywood Darkness: In the opening scene, there is just enough light in Shani and Bevis's dark bedroom for the viewer to see Shani Quaking with Fear, with her eyes wide open, just before the alarm clock goes off.
• Impossibly Tacky Clothing: A nervous interviewee Miss Bodley wears a bonnet covered with little bells, which jingle when she moves.
  Simon: (Just after an angry outburst on the telephone to his father) I'm sorry, what was my question?
  Miss Bodley: Ummmmmmmmm... (trembling so much that her bells keep jingling)
  Simon: Can you hear a tinkling sound?
  Miss Bodley: (nodding excitedly, to a veritable cacophony of bells) Is that one, from J. Alfred Prufrock?
  (At the end of her interview)
  Simon: (friendly) For your second interview, may I suggest you don't wear bells on your bonnet? Either take it off altogether, or ask the porter for a pair of scissors.
• Ironic Echo: When Simon "interviews" James to get him into sheltered accommodation for the elderly, James replies to every question with "ask me another". Later, when James asks Simon "are you going to stop worrying about me from now on?", Simon replies "ask me another".
• Jaw Drop: Harriet, when Hugh's lies about his attending Cambridge are revealed. Also Bevis, when Harriet throws her tea over Hugh following this revelation.
• Laborious Laces: When evading his son's questions about mundane matters, the elderly James rattles off a long list of philosophical questions, finishing with "ask me why shoelaces won't stay fastened these days", referring to his own, which he trips on later.
• Leitmotif: When Queens' College in Cambridge is seen, rousing brass music is heard, to reflect its grandeur. Also Ethereal Choir music is played in the latter part of the film, especially during the scenes when the parents realise that Empty Nest is forthcoming, and during the ending credits.
• Liar Revealed: Despite frequently boasting about it, Hugh never attended Cambridge at all, as revealed when a passing interviewee sees his Cambridge scarf, and asks him for directions.
  Interviewee: Excuse me, could you tell me the best way to Catz, please?
  Hugh: The Andrew Lloyd Webber? I'm not really a lover of musical theatre... it'll be in the evening paper.
  Interviewee: Not a musical!
  Hugh: Cats?
  Interviewee: Saint Catherine's.
  Hugh: Church?
  Interviewee: Saint Catherine's college, everyone calls it Catz. (They are standing beside St Catherine's College)
  Hugh: Oh, college! You should have said! Gosh, you're miles away from Cats the musical...(he has no idea, and his wife is staring at him open-mouthed) look here, old man, we're a bit busy. (Wanders away from the group)
  Harriet: (Realisation dawning, confronts Hugh, who is shaking with fear and shame, but tries to keep a calm appearance) Am I going mental?.... Andrew Lloyd Webber?? Miles away?! Church?! All these years, played cricket for Cambridge? Got a first in economics?? Nearly got in the rowing team?? The japes you got up to?? Wrapped in this bloody scarf ever since I met you, I hope it bloody chokes you. You were never here at all!!! The whole thing is a lie! You're a bloody liar.
  Hugh: I told you before, going to Cambridge isn't important.
  Harriet: No, it's spending the rest of your life telling people you did. Right!!! (Throws her tea over him) And is it us on our own? Just the two of us, from now on??
  Hugh: (jovially, to the others) Women! What would we do without them?
  Harriet: (icily) Now's your chance to find out.
• Littering Is No Big Deal: Neil casually kicks aside the paper wrapper of his fish and chips, which is then picked up by the same road sweeper who meets Malcolm. Harriet also angrily crushes a polystyrene cup, and discards it.
• Love at First Sight: Neil and Pippa clearly like each other, after chatting as they escape from their mad parents. Near the end of the film, they make a possibly life-changing oath, having only met that day:
  Pippa: Say no if you think it's stupid, or you don't want to, but... supposing one of us doesn't get in here, but the other one does... but we both get into Exeter?
  Neil: Why not?
  (They move to kiss, but Simon passes)
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: After Malcolm's mum has secretly followed him to Cambridge, she accidentally returns on the same bus as Malcolm. When the bus arrives, she dashes out, and tries to look nonchalant, as if she has come to meet him, telling him she'd only just got there; which is half-true.
  Malcolm: Oh God. You haven't been standing here all day, I hope!
  Malcolm's mum: Of course not! I just got here. I thought I'd meet you. How did it go?
  Malcolm: (giving his usual Non-Answer) Well, quite chuffed really; well, not actually chuffed...
• Macguffin: Shani becomes very fixated on certain objects, as part of her superstitious ways.
  • Shani gives Neil his grandmother's wedding ring, to bring him luck. Near the end, he drops the ring without realising it, and Miss Bodley picks it up, and puts it on her own finger. This has no significance until the sequel, Cold Enough For Snow.
  • Shani dreams of opening a tin of corned beef, as a potent symbol of things they have neglected to teach their children.
    Shani: Our Neil has never opened a tin of corned beef in his life. Baked beans, yes, but tins of corned beef can be lethal! They can slice your finger off. So if he's on his tod from now on, how is he ever going to know, other than by slicing his finger off?
    Hugh: Does Pippa know about tins of corned beef?
• My Beloved Smother: Malcolm's mum, who is well-meaning but has turned Malcolm into a Nervous Wreck, like herself. She secretly follows him to Cambridge, and persuades local town workers (a road sweeper, and a traffic warden) to ask him how he got on. She accidentally ends up on the same bus home as Malcolm; and has to hide from him. When the bus arrives, she quickly nips out and pretends she has come to meet him.
  (Before Malcolm sets off for Cambridge, he has a moment of panic and checks his ticket; his mother approaches, and hands him a magazine)
  Malcolm: I could have queued for it.
  Mum: Don't be silly, that's what mothers are for. (She tries to tidy his hair: he jerks away.)
  Malcolm: Please, don't ask. No-one's parents go with them, it's embarrassing.
  Mum: You'll get lost, you know what you're like.
  Malcolm: I will not get lost.
  Mum: (anxiously, her face close to his) Have you got your ticket??
  Malcolm: In my wallet.
  Mum: Have you got your wallet??
  Malcolm: Of course!
  Mum: Where?
  Malcolm: In my inside pocket!
  Mum: Are you sure?
  Malcolm: Certain!
  Mum: Show me.
  Malcolm: (getting away) I'll see you tonight.
  Mum: Am I allowed to give you a kiss? For luck?
  Malcolm: People can see.
  Mum: Good luck, Malcolm! You show 'em.
  (Malcolm boards coach, panics again and checks his ticket)
  Mum: (to the coach driver, out of Malcolm's sight) Excuse me, what time is the next coach?
  Driver: Now, this is the one.
  Mum: No, the one after.
  Driver: In an hour. You don't want this one?
  Mum: No.
  Driver: You want to wait an hour?
  Mum: Yes.
  Driver: (perplexed) I see.
• Narcissist: Hugh, who is obsessed with his daughter Pippa attending Cambridge, which has clearly been his aspiration since her childhood. Pippa generally stands up to him, but cries when he is not looking. Her mother Harriet is clearly terrified of Hugh, especially when he makes her responsible for any failings in Pippa's life.
  Hugh: (Fiercely) Do you know something? You are going to make her fail this interview, Harriet. You will make her fail, it will be your fault, and you will carry that knowledge to your grave. Now, I don't want to hear another squeak out of you, right?
• Non-Answer: Malcolm's replies to anyone who asks him how he did in his interview.
  Malcolm: Not too bad, really; but then again, not too good either.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Bevis tries to tell of a funny incident that happened at work, but Shani and Neil veto this, saying that they've heard it before.
    Bevis: She said, "you know when you put your clocks back..."
    Neil: Dad, don't. No hilarious side-splitting anecdotes, and I'll be as beholden as buggery.
• Not What It Looks Like: When ordering his daughter Rosemary to get changed into clothes for running, he says loudly in a crowded cafe "just go to the ladies, and get your clothes off".
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Neil has a moment of this when telling Pippa about his interview, which is just before hers.
    Pippa: How did it go?
    Neil: What are your particular interests in poetry, drama, and a novel of the last hundred years?
    Pippa: Oh God.
    Neil: Convince me that Queens' wouldn't be wasting a place by offering you one.
    Pippa: Oh God.
    Neil: What would your school mates say about you, what do they like and dislike about you; then he asked me about Kingsley Amis.
    Pippa: ...Not Martin?
    Neil: (Crumples up in horror, beats the wall) Oh God!!!!!! It was Martin. I've just burbled on about his dad!
  • Malcolm's mum. Having secretly followed him to Cambridge, she suddenly finds that he has boarded the same coach as her for the return journey, and hides her face so that she does not see her. Fortunately, he removes his glasses to clean them just as he boards.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Hugh, when his pompous exterior cracks at the realisation that Pippa is growing up, and he calls her "Muffin". Also Harriet, when she stands up to him.
• Pacing a Trench: Pippa paces furiously during breakfast, until she decides to ignore her father's orders as a matter of principle, or possibly to support her mother.
  Harriet: (gently) Do sit down, Muffin.
  Pippa: I don't feel like sitting down!
  Hugh: For God's sake, woman, there's no golden bloody rule she has to sit down; leave her alone. You stand if you want.
  (Pippa suddenly sits)
• Roadside Wave: When Bevis asks a woman for directions to a car park, he drives through a puddle and splashes her, ruining her brand new tights. When Shani discovers that this woman has a job interview at the cafe where they eat later, Shani puts in a good word for her.
• Rule of Three: One of Shani's many superstitions is doing things three times, for good luck.
• Running Gag:
  • Malcolm's mum persuading town workers to ask him how he got on in his interview. Malcolm's replies are comically indecisive: "Not too bad, really... but then again, not too good either." He gives similar replies when she finally asks him herself.
  • Hugh constantly references his own days at Cambridge, even though it is eventually revealed he never attended at all.
    Harriet: Glad to be back, dear?
    Pippa: He's never really been away, has he?
    • The revelation is foreshadowed in that Hugh gets various details wrong which would be noticed by people familiar with the university, e.g. he mentions dining at "high table", which is where fellows (i.e. academic staff) - not students - sit at formal college dinners.
  • Between conducting interviews, Simon is constantly telephoning his father James to check he is getting ready for his "interview" at sheltered accommodation, asking each candidate to wait a minute or two. He even makes one of these calls (loudly and angrily) during Miss Bodley's interview.
    Simon: (on the phone) Me, shirt. Did you buy one? (Yelling, while nervous Miss Bodley looks horrified) Oh for God's sake!! Well go out and do so, now!!! What?... You know perfectly well. Sixteen neck, that's before I wring it for you, sixteen and a half collar.
  • Harriet keeps sadly noticing "No smoking" signs, having promised to stop smoking that day.
  • Hugh is convinced that Pippa will be asked about current affairs in her interview, and grills her mercilessly on this, causing her to run and hide each time.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: When Malcolm is travelling on his bus to Cambridge, a nearby passenger thinks he looks a bit green, and tries to make conversation.
  Passenger: I was two numbers off winning the lottery last week. Well, not actually winning it; off one of the numbers. I had 37 instead of 39. Mind you, my other five numbers were nowhere near. Still, that's the excitement of it.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness:
  • Neil's reply when Shani asks him how well he slept.
    Neil: Like unto a log, is slumber was successfully accomplished. The arms of Morpheus were in full attendance.
    Shani: Try and talk like a human being, love. Today, of all days.
  • Some of James's replies to Simon.
    Simon: What does "yes" mean? I'm not a door-to-door salesman.
    James: Basically, it's an interrogative interjection, which by virtue of its brevity saves me the rigmarole of saying "what the hell do you want now?". And door-to-door salesman describes you beautifully.
• Shared Family Quirks: Malcolm and his mum are both very anxious.
• Shout-Out: Bevis references Blackadder, when discussing the way teenagers speak to each other.
  Bevis: Do you understand her when she says things, Muffin and her school pals?
  Hugh: Different language, isn't it? Well, it's not really a language at all.
  Bevis: I blame Blackadder, and Fry and Laurie. It's all words with them, vocabulary.
• Sinister Whistling: Shani believes that Bevis's nervous whistling brings bad luck.
• Slobs vs. Snobs: Hugh is concerned about the company his family keeps.
  Hugh: We'll go somewhere less plebby for afternoon tea.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Pippa and her father Hugh, who have an antagonistic relationship.
  Hugh: Try this one. Why did you apply to this particular college?
  Pippa: (Stiffly) Because my father told me to.
  Hugh: (Almost imitating Pippa's tone) No madam, because my teachers recommended me to. (Beat) Then, you pause and shrug as if they had wheedled it out of you, and you say: actually, my father was at Queens'.
• Spit Shine: Simon spits on James's suit to clean off some dirt.
  James: I wondered where I'd draw the line - being spat on!
• Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids:
  • At the beginning, Neil is seen reading in bed with a torch. When his mother knocks on his door, he quickly hides under the bedclothes and pretends to be asleep.
  • Pippa, when she meets up with Neil after their first interview, and they are debating returning to their parents in a nearby cafe.
    Pippa: Now the big interview, my dad. "What did he say", and "what did you say", and "what did he say back?". I don't think I can face it. I wouldn't mind a bit of a walk round first.
    Neil: Won't we feel guilty?
    Pippa: We're teenagers, we're supposed to feel guilty. Let's walk this way, then they won't catch us through the window.
    (Later, just before going in to meet their parents)
    Pippa: What do I do, lie?
    Neil: It's not called lying. It's called good interview technique.
• Superstition Episode: Shani is superstitious through and through:
  • She tries to start the car on the third attempt, saying "please, not first time, not second...". When it starts the third time, she says "thank you, car".
  • She is horrified by the sight of a single magpie.
  • She avoids the cracks, taking comical big steps in her high heels.
  • She blocks the path under a ladder, to prevent Neil and Bevis from taking that route.
  • She tries to persuade a black cat to cross her path, without success.
• Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: Pippa is horrified when her mother puts a full English breakfast in front of her. The cafe owner "Mother Polly" comments on the students' lack of appetite before their interviews.
  Mother Polly: All they want to do at the moment is throw up. They come here to fill time: time-fillers, I call 'em. They'll make up for it at lunchtime, some of them anyway: double helpings of shepherd's pie once the first interview's behind them.
  Bobbie the waitress: They won't throw literally up, will they?
  Mother Polly: Well, I always reckon they're the lucky ones.
• Tracking Shot: Often used between scenes. Shortly before the main characters (Malcolm, Pippa, Neil) arrive in Cambridge, a succession of tracking shots follow Malcolm's bus, Pippa's train, and Neil's family car; as it turns off the motorway, the camera lingers on a road sign saying Cambridge. When characters walk from one location to another, other main characters are seen passing: Neil and Pippa walk past a door at Queens', just as Malcolm comes out.
• Tree Cover: When Malcolm's mum follows him to Cambridge, she hides behind trees and other objects, having persuaded local people to ask Malcolm how he got on.
• Trophy Child: Very much how Hugh treats Pippa, with his ultimate desire that she attends Cambridge.
  Hugh: It's always mattered to her that she follow in my footsteps.
• Uptown Girl: Pippa to Neil. Their home settings are only briefly seen in this film, but there is enough to see that Neil's family is of modest means (small terraced house), while Pippa's family is wealthy (large detached house with sports car outside). Their everyday lives are seen more in the sequel, Cold Enough For Snow. This wealth difference does not bother Neil and Pippa at all, but it matters to their parents.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?:
  • Bevis from Oop North tries to put on a posh voice in Cambridge, and would be most "beholden" if a passing woman could indicate the whereabouts of a car park (which is right in front of him).
    Neil: Dad, I don't think every person in Cambridge has got a degree in talking with a plum up their bum! Why are talking like that? "Beholden." You've never said "beholden" in your life! Particularly in an accent unknown in the English-speaking world.
  • He does the same when talking to Hugh, hilariously mispronouncing the word "books".
    Bevis: She's a great believer in bewks.
    Hugh: In what?
    Bevis: Bucks.
    Hugh: Bucks... Oh! Books.
    Bevis: That's what I said. And our Neil's the same: he's always got his nose in a b... reading matter.
• Wise Beyond Their Years:
  • To some extent, Pippa, who has a lifetime's practice at refuting her father's narcissistic ways. Presumably she is well-read, as she is applying to study English literature at Cambridge.
    Hugh: (To Pippa's departing back, before her interview) Word from the wise, just be yourself.
    Pippa: (turning round, wide-eyed) How?! All of a sudden, how the hell do I do that?! We've never had the practice!!
    Hugh: (genuinely surprised) What does she mean? Harriet, what did she mean?
  • Bevis comments that Neil is brainier than he is.
    Bevis: I don't know whither he gets his brains from; whence from. Not my side.
• Woken Up at an Ungodly Hour: The very first scene of the movie is Bevis being woken at a very early unspecified hour by Shani's alarm clock, before the highly momentous day of taking their son to his university interview. Bevis muses on the words "godforsaken" and "unholy".
  Bevis: What did you set it for this godforsaken time for?
  Shani: There might be traffic. And what if the car doesn't start?
  Bevis: Wait a moment, you don't say "godforsaken" to do with time. You say "unholy".
• You All Share My Story: This film contains many overlapping characters, all in the similar situation of taking interviews. When a scene focuses on one family, some of the other main characters are frequently seen in the background.

---