UK Premiere

Short Synopsis:

Anyone interested in Eddie Izzard will be interested in this documentary chronicling his rise from obscurity.

Review:

Believe chronicles comedian Eddie Izzard’s rise to fame from his early influences - losing his mother to cancer at a young age before being sent with his brother to boarding school to his close present day relationship with his supportive father.

At school, when he saw what getting into the Cambridge Footlights Revue could do for your career his goal became to follow Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson and try for a place at the University. When that didn't happen he headed up to the Edinburgh Festival, equipped with nothing but a unicycle and some banter, eventually figuring out how to draw a crowd. He's been working hard at it ever since. 

Believe is the mantra of Eddie Izzard - if you want to be a singer, you've got to believe you can sing, if you want to be a comedian you've got to believe you can be funny. Eddie believes in Eddie and it was this rock solid self-belief that allowed him to perform onstage as a transvestite when it was considered career suicide. When his highly successful West End show, Dressed To Kill won critical acclaim he had only himself to thank for booking the theatre.

Director Sarah Townsend, a former girlfriend of Eddie Izzard skilfully combines home video, stills and archival footage in this intimate and edgy portrait of the performer.

 

SB