Moonlighting (1982)Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski has made a number of films set in the UK, and each of them makes fascinatingly unconventional use of their locations – from the wintry, yearning London streets of Deep End (1970) to the surreal rural Dorset of The Shout (1978). This is especially apparent in his 1982 film Moonlighting, which, contrary to the more romantic period dramas occurring at the time in British film, positively basks in the grim reality of early 1980s London.
Moonlighting follows four Polish workmen sent to the British capital by their rich boss to extensively renovate his Kensington property on the cheap. Led by Nowak (Jeremy Irons), the men evade the various ramifications of working illegally in London, living in the property over the bleak Christmas period while they work on its repair. With their money as precarious as their position in the city, Nowak becomes adept at making ends meet for the men; in particular by figuring out a system of stealing food from the local supermarket. With a military coup suddenly occurring in Poland, how long will the men have to spend in the cold and brutal conditions before they can go home to their families, if at all?
Skolimowski’s film is one of the most hopeless depictions of London of the decade, characterising it as a hard and unforgiving place. It focuses on the kind of everyday places that were increasingly uncommon in British features as popular cinema looked to the past and its rural idylls to escape the ever-volatile present.
Here are five locations from Moonlighting as they stand today.
The flat
The majority of Moonlighting is filmed in and around the house that the men have been tasked with illegally renovating. It’s on the prestigious De Vere Gardens in Kensington, among the most expensive residential streets in Britain. It’s the first exterior location shown in the film, as their taxi arrives.
The house is number 44, still distinct with its old architecture and wooden door.
Nowak develops a mild curiosity around number 45, opposite the house. It’s also where he temporarily steals a bike when his own is stolen.
The phone box
Another location that plays a pivotal role in the film is the road to the back of the building: Canning Place. We see the side of the main building, which has a shared private courtyard, as the characters first arrive. Appropriately, the building is still a hotbed of renovation work.
This location is important because of the phone box that allows Nowak to get news on the unfolding situation back in Poland and updates regarding his partner. The likelihood is that the box was a dummy used for the film, though its surroundings are still as they were.
Skolimowski films this particularly effective shot on Canning Place, showing the tree in the garden behind and Canning Passage branching off to the right. The tree has long gone, and the structure of the back wall has been changed as well.
The supermarket
Nowak regularly visits a supermarket for food for the labourers, developing a scheme through which he can safely steal when the costs of the renovation begin to soar. The supermarket stood on Hammersmith Road, which can be seen in the following shot, looking out from the corner of the shop on to North End Road.
The supermarket itself has since been demolished, and this shot shows the remains of the road next to it, which is now pedestrianised.
Southcombe Street runs opposite the supermarket. This is where Nowak parks his bike whenever he returns to do his shopping.
In one shot, we even see the street’s actual sign, which has dropped a few feet in the intervening years.
The tool shop
Another regular spot that Nowak visits is the tool shop where he buys various bits of equipment and material. This is much further out than the initial locations, situated in Twickenham. We first see the road clearly in a shot of the shop next door.
This is Heath Road and, appropriately, the location is not only still a tool and DIY shop but has become much more successful: it now inhabits the whole row, including what was once the Wrangler shop next door, also seen in the film.
We see a different view of the street in a later shot when Nowak runs down Heath Road and bumps into someone. The adjacent timber yard’s distinctive wavy roof marks the spot.
The shopping mall
In the final sequence of the film, the four men begin the long walk back from Kensington to Heathrow, accompanied by their trolleys. In one of the last interiors seen in the film, Skolimowski uses what was once the King’s Mall on King Street. Today, it is the Livat Shopping Centre, but only the general layout really remains.
This final shot of the interior before the film ends shows the depth of the shopping centre and, aside from the change of the now-defunct Safeway to Sainsbury’s, it’s still recognisable today.
References
Moonlighting screens at BFI Southbank as part of our Jerzy Skolimowski season.
