Billy Liar

1963, United Kingdom, John Schlesinger, 98 mins.

Introduced by fashion designer Simon Collins

Tom Courtenay is Billy Liar, a bored undertaker’s clerk from Yorkshire who spends his days imagining himself as a powerful ruler and indefatigable lover in the mythical kingdom of Ambrosia. When Billy’s fantasies spill over into his real life, the film reveals the joys and darkly comic consequences of his flights of fantasy. The film is populated with glorious British character studies by Julie Christie, Leonard Rossiter, and Mona Washbourne.

“In spite of its bitter edge, Billy Liar is pure Ambrosia.” —A. O. Scott, The New York Times

This film was selected by the artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, whose exhibition Try to Altar Everything closed August 1.