Seattle Times

Friday October 21, 1988

'BUSINESS AS USUAL': GETTING WORKED UP OVER HARASSMENT

by John Hartl

"Business as Usual,'' with Glenda Jackson, Cathy Tyson, John Thaw. Written and directed by Lezli-An Barrett. Alderwood, Capitol Hill, Crossroads, Seatac Mall Cinemas. Rated PG.

Ahalf-good British drama about sexual harassment in the workplace, "Business As Usual'' raises more interesting questions than it's willing to deal with.

The script appears to have been designed as a vehicle for Glenda Jackson, who plays a Liverpool dress-shop manager who gets the sack when she complains about the boss taking liberties with one of her employees (Cathy Tyson).

Her gradual acceptance of union help and her battle to win back her job are certainly stirring, and the movie (which is based on a 1983 case) is a real eye-opener on the subjects of British police harassment, cramped housing conditions and the Thatcher government's anti-labor bias.

Jackson gives a strong, no-frills performance as a woman who has never thought much about union protections, in spite of the fact that her unemployed husband (John Thaw) is a former union negotiator. Her lack of privacy in a home that also houses three grown sons and a prospective daughter-in-law is vividly suggested, and the writer-director, Lezli-An Barrett, does a good job of stressing the economic realities of their situation.

But you can't help wondering about the Tyson character's puzzling decision to continue working at the shop, and her willingness to go to dinner with this guy in spite of the fact that she loathes his crude attempts to manipulate her.

Why does she let Jackson fight her battles for her? How can she let herself be seen chumming around in public with the man she accused of molesting her? Is she that desperate to keep her job? Why is her boyfriend so passive?

Still, "Business As Usual'' is a serious, well-acted attempt to deal with a problem that movies rarely even treat as a problem. As the Jackson character confesses at one point, sexual harassment was a foreign term to her before she lost her job. She'd always thought it was just "men misbehaving,'' and she'd almost gone along with this boys-must-be-boys attitude.