Introducing Andrew Haigh’s Weekend

In conceiving his film Weekend, British writer-editor-director Andrew Haigh posed a challenge to himself—to create a tale of two men falling in love that would both honestly reflect the contemporary gay experience and appeal to a wider, heterosexual audience. There’s no question that he succeeded, as the delicate yet frank Weekend was a crossover hit in the U.K. and the U.S. in 2011. In the following clip, from an interview included on Criterion’s new special edition of the film, Haigh talks about this “tricky balance.”

Now get a glimpse of Haigh’s lovely, naturalistic style of filmmaking. In this short scene, Weekend’s main characters, the reserved Russell (Tom Cullen) and the outspoken, clever Glen (Chris New), who have already had what they expected to be a one-night stand, find themselves slowly getting to know each other in a more relaxed way. It’s one of many elegant, flirtatious pas de deux that make up the film, which charts a blossoming romance between two seeming opposites.