A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg is a 1972 British black comedy film directed by Peter Medak, and starring Alan Bates and Janet Suzman. It is based on the play of the same name by Peter Nichols. Plot Christmas is fast approaching, and British schoolteacher Bri is bitter and vexed upon seeing his classroom of schoolboys loudly talking and interrupting him. He forces them to put their hands on their heads and sit there in silence well after the dismissal bell has sounded, whereupon he has a fantasy of a nude blonde woman, makes a Freudian slip comment about breasts, and mischievously flees the school in his aging vehicle (while still leaving the schoolboys sitting there, never dismissing them), returning home to spend the holiday with his family. He plays a playful prank on Sheila, his wife, taping a fake rubber spider to his face. Sheila is an eccentric, ditzy housewife who collects a wide assortment of domestic pets, including guinea pigs, a Siamese cat and two parakeets. The couple's quirky banter becomes increasingly frenzied and bizarre, and when they enter the back room of their home, it's revealed that they have an adolescent daughter, Josephine (affectionately called "Joe Egg" and "Jo"). Josephine had some unexplained form of severe intellectual disability, unable to walk, use the toilet or speak to anybody. A flashback to a trip at the beach reveals that Sheila had a narrow pelvic opening, resulting in a risky and troublesome birth. Bri and Sheila pretend to be Josephine back and forth in order to fantasize a facsimile of a conversation with her. Josephine urinates, and as Bri has to change her, he begs her to say something to him, while Sheila talks to herself casually. The couple is increasingly distracted by their myriad sexual games at home, coupled with nosy neighbours and Josephine's doctors and nurses. Bri worries that Josephine is "fat" and "jaundiced", and wonders about the long-term state of her health. He and Sheila increasingly rely on dark humour to make their pain bearable. As they consider Josephine's quality of life, at one point they even contemplate euthanasia, while neighbours and friends point out the potential merits of committing the girl to a nursing home. As Josephine becomes terminally ill and close to death, Sheila suspects that Bri may have something to do with it. They struggle to hold their family together, along with a close-knit group of wacky friends and relatives, while Josephine languishes at home.