The year is 1947, and Great Britain is still recovering from the ravages of the Second World War. Rations are constantly being decreased, and the quality of life is rapidly declining, meaning many are struggling to get a proper meal on the table. Two people who are feeling the burden more than most are genial chiropodist Gilbert Chilvers (Sir Michael Palin) and his pernickety piano-teacher wife, Joyce (Dame Maggie Smith). They do their best to make a decent living, but are in niche fields that are not entirely essential in the post-war era. A major event is about to take place, namely the marriage of Princess Elizabeth (the eventual Queen Elizabeth II) to Philip, the Duke of Mountbatten – and while England is ready to celebrate, the Chilvers have their eye on a different kind of festivity, that of a group of high-society buffoons (Richard Griffiths, John Normington and Denholm Elliott) as an idiotic account, solicitor and doctor respectively. This motley crew is planning a very particular celebration for the day of the wedding, having purchased a pig named Betty, which they have been fattening up for months, ready to feast on in commemoration of the royal couple. Once the Chilvers hear of this plan, they insist on staking their own claim, which entails the vicious Joyce to insist that her milquetoast husband breaks into the farm and steals the pig, literally bringing home the bacon, so that they can finally be able to have a decent meal for once. However, it’s far more complicated than this, especially with the intimidating Inspector Wormold (Bill Patterson), who specializes in meat, looming over their every action, hot on their trails and burning to expose the illicit meat trade that he sees as a plague on modern society.

It doesn’t take a lot to make a great comedy – a strong script, a talented group of actors and a few good ideas often goes an extremely long way, especially when dealing with stories that are somewhat rooted in reality.  A Private Function is one of the finest examples of a post-war comedy, insofar as it takes aim at the period immediately following the end of the war, focusing on the aftermath, but with a more comedic edge. It’s hardly surprising that this is a film written by Alan Bennett, whose influence on British literature at this time is unimpeachable. Working alongside director Malcolm Mowbray, Bennett puts together a hilarious, rollicking tale of greed and corruption, the kind that isn’t restricted to the hallowed halls of government, or the harrowing trenches of the battlefield, but rather run rampant in every city, town and hamlet across the nation, giving attention to the trials and tribulations of the working-class, who fight against the high-society and their tendency to always be at an advantage, even under something as stifling and supposedly organized as the ration system. A Private Function is more of a cult film than it is a well-regarded masterpiece, but something about it has lingered longer than a lot of the more slight, unconvincing attempts at looking at this period, a kind of subversive humour that is equal parts scathing and sophisticated, and more than willing to venture into the trenches and get itself dirty for the sake of telling a compelling story, which is certainly an aspect of the film that is most notable. It’s not the peak of Bennett’s work, nor does it have the best performances given by any of its actors – but terrific writing and a hilariously irreverent story is more than enough to qualify A Private Function as an unsung masterwork of post-war satire that is as biting today as it was upon its original release nearly four decades ago.

Bennett has a knack for working with actors, which explains why so many of the finest performers of their generation have gravitated towards working with him. A Private Function has two of the very best in Michael Palin and Maggie Smith, who represent very different forms of acting, but work together in a way that suggests that the collision of two distinct styles can bring about incredible results. This film is barely mentioned in conversations about Smith’s greatest work, despite the fact that this is one of her most exceptional forays into comedy – not necessarily a stranger to more lighthearted fare, Smith mostly worked in more buoyant, upbeat forms of comedy, rather than the very bleak, nihilistic humour that defines much of A Private Function. She’s playing a more villainous character (albeit one that is still incredibly likeable, and is essentially one half of the central duo that we want to see succeed), and it’s always a wonderful experience to see such an esteemed performer tapping into their darker side, playing a more sinister character, which only keeps us more engaged. It’s a performance that Smith could’ve done without much effort – it very much relies on her schoolmarmish sternness and refined accent to build up the illusion of a woman so desperate to break into the upper echelons of society, she’s willing to descend to the lowest-depths of humanity to achieve it. Palin matches Smith beat-for-beat, being a formidable scene-partner, with his performance being pitched at the appropriate comedic level, being quirky enough to elicit laughs, but also having an underlying complexity that we don’t normally get to see from the actor. Their chemistry with each other is terrific, as is their scenes across from the supporting cast, of which Denholm Elliott and Richard Griffiths (two incredibly underrated character actors) are the absolute standouts.

A Private Function is a fascinating specimen of a film, since it is clearly a work that thrives on a certain comedic element, but doesn’t shy away from looking at more dramatic material. The very situational context in which the film takes place suggests something deeper – setting it during the period immediately following the Second World War opened the story up to a number of possibilities, since it doesn’t need to be a film about the war itself (and can thus avoid any allegations that it doesn’t pay proper tribute to those fighting in it, and can easily escape any need to show the inner machinations of wartime politics), and can therefore focus exclusively on more domestic matters. Bennett and Mowbray negotiate the ambigious space between dark comedy and harrowing drama throughout the film, drawing out the humour where it was necessary, which was normally in scenes in which it concealed the very sinister reality of what these characters would have to have endured during this period. There is rarely a moment in A Private Function that isn’t incredibly funny, with the general tone of the film being one rooted deeply within the most absurd, broadly comical humour imaginable, which makes its darker undertones all the more prominent. Its ability to mine for the humour, despite the fact that it is traversing some treacherous territory, is quite admirable, and evokes films like Charles Crichton’s Hue and Cry, which very similarly focused on the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, using comedy as a healing device. A Private Function may have been made a few decades later, but the wounds were still quite evident, and the cohesive nature of the film, where it manages to focus on some unifying factors between all the madness is quite admirable.

By the end of A Private Function, we’ve been taken on a journey, one that is incredibly entertaining and well-composed, with moments of unadulterated humour and an endless amount of heart, all of which adds up to a staggering work of comedic genius that uses its gifts to plumb for some very meaningful commentary on the post-war period, something that rarely manages to be the subject of such magnificent works of satire. Anchored by the incredible Maggie Smith and Michael Palin, both of whom are doing some exceptional work, and told with a ferocity that suggests that this isn’t just a well-meaning comedy about a luckless couple and their various misadventures, but a scathing elegy to an entire class of people who were broken by a system that was supposed to put everyone at an even keel, but ended up only increasing division. Yet, even with this heavy commentary, A Private Function doesn’t come across as inauthentic or heavy-handed, and has a wonderfully biting sense of humour that allows it to be creatively blasé when it needs to be, but also packing an emotional punch when it is appropriate. It’s an irreverent, outrageously funny film with a tender core – and there’s rarely anything more exciting than a work of art that manages to be simultaneously entertaining and thought-provoking, which is why  A Private Function is an unheralded masterpiece.