Emotional Backgammon

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title: "Emotional Backgammon" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2003-films", "2003-comedy-drama-films", "black-british-films", "british-independent-films", "british-comedy-drama-films", "2003-independent-films", "2000s-english-language-films", "2003-british-films", "backgammon", "films-about-games", "english-language-comedy-drama-films", "english-language-independent-films"] description: "2003 film by Leon Herbert" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_Backgammon" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 2003 film by Leon Herbert ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]

Field	Value
name	Emotional Backgammon
image	EmotionalBackgammonDVDcover.jpg
caption	DVD cover
director	Leon Herbert{{cite book
producer	Matthew Hope
Harry F. Rushton
writer	Leon Herbert
Matthew Hope
starring	Leon Herbert
Wil Johnson
Daniela Lavender
Jacqueline de Peza
Tracey Vanessa Brown
Bob Mercer
Steve Weston
Steve Edwin
music	Paul Foss
Chris Nicolaides
cinematography	Koutaiba Al-Janabi
editing	Christopher Bird
distributor	Odeon/Buccaneer
released
14 December 2004 (DVD)
runtime	93 minutes
country	United Kingdom
language	English
budget	£6,000
::

| name = Emotional Backgammon | image = EmotionalBackgammonDVDcover.jpg | caption = DVD cover | director = Leon Herbert{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of British film |last=McFarlane |first=Brian |publisher=Methuen Publishing |year=2005 |page=321 |isbn=978-0-413-77301-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bT8OAQAAMAAJ&q=%22emotional+backgammon%22 | producer = Matthew Hope Harry F. Rushton | writer = Leon Herbert Matthew Hope | starring = Leon Herbert Wil Johnson Daniela Lavender Jacqueline de Peza Tracey Vanessa Brown Bob Mercer Steve Weston Steve Edwin | music = Paul Foss Chris Nicolaides | cinematography = Koutaiba Al-Janabi | editing = Christopher Bird | studio = | distributor = Odeon/Buccaneer | released = 14 December 2004 (DVD) | runtime = 93 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = £6,000 | gross = Emotional Backgammon is a 2003 British independent comedy-drama about couples strategizing to repair relationships, with unexpected results. The film was written by Leon Herbert and Matthew Hope, directed by Herbert, and stars Herbert, Wil Johnson, Daniela Lavender, and Jacqueline de Peza. It is Herbert's first feature-length film. During its development it was featured on UK Channel 4's Movie Virgins series; upon its release, it received mixed reviews.

Plot

John is crushed when his girlfriend, Mary, announces that she's leaving him to "find herself", at the very moment John was about to ask her to marry him. John seeks out advice from his best friend Steve on strategies to win her back. Steve uses backgammon as a metaphor for approaches to take, telling John to "roll the dice, for love is a game." At the same time, Mary begins taking advice from her best friend, also employing complicated strategies. It is revealed that both John and Jane share a bitter, complicated past.

Cast

• Leon Herbert as Steve
• Wil Johnson as John
• Daniela Lavender as Mary
• Jacqueline de Peza as Jane
• Bob Mercer as Paul
• Steve Weston as Cab driver
• Steve Edwin as Psychiatrist
• Dee Cannon as Theatre Director

Production

Herbert and Hope stated that, "The script idea was drawn from countless conversations with friends in problematic relationships. It is a story about emotional black-mail, but also an analysis of insecurities, and the charged and complex control tactics we resort to in the game of love." The film's production was featured on UK Channel 4's series Movie Virgins.{{cite news |title=Boys on Film |last=Newson |first=Gina |date=6 October 2000 |newspaper=The Guardian (UK) |work= |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/oct/06/features.theguardian |title=Film Background |publisher=emotional-backgammon.com |url=http://www.emotional-backgammon.com/filmbackground.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010717115359/http://www.emotional-backgammon.com/filmbackground.html |archive-date=17 July 2001 |title=Koutaiba Al-Janabi HSC (Hungarian Society of Cinematographers) |publisher=emotional-backgammon.com |url=http://www.emotional-backgammon.com/Koutaiba-Al-Janabi.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020115215630/http://www.emotional-backgammon.com/Koutaiba-Al-Janabi.html |archive-date=15 January 2002

Reception

The film was met with very mixed reviews. The BBC review called it neither "a diamond hiding in the rough, or even a half decent feature", referring to the acting as "woeful", the soundtrack "cloyingly overbearing", which "deadens each scene", and the films sexual politics "dubious, unironic, and completely uninterrogated." According to the reviewer, the film's lack of understanding of sexual politics is illustrated by Steve's taking a role in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, and the film is a "clunking, and offensive, drama."

Rich Cline called the film an "enjoyable low-budget British relationship comedy [which] has a serious sting in its tale at the end that almost undoes it altogether." Cline enjoyed the film's "style and substance", "visuals" and acting, but found the plot to be similar to Two Can Play That Game. He appreciated the use of London locations, intercut with "witty fantasy sequences" for character point of view, but found the film to take "seriously disturbing turns" in which misogyny, "rape, murder, and homosexuality" are introduced at the climax of the film, and "seriously weaken the clever and funny film that went before."

Angela Swift wrote that even though she hoped it would succeed, and was prepared to grant considerable latitude for any faults, the film "unfortunately, does not measure up to our hopes or expectations." Some of the "admirable work" includes the nearly all-black cast, portraying "unabashed ethnicity" and the film's "almost clever" idea with "a few good twists". Swift found the backgammon-human-relationship simile to be overused, though visually interesting: "overkill drowns out any notion of ingenuity", and the film's repeated use of a pun on "Taming of the shrew" to be "without subtlety or insight." Overall, the film is "relatively unfunny and unsophisticated".

The Time Out reviewer wondered "Are Steve and Jane to blame for what ensues? Or [...] Shakespeare [...]?", and found that, although model/actor Johnson "manages to cut an intriguing figure, the film leaves the viewer perplexed. Is Herbert just playing with his audience? If so, it's a dangerous game."

According to The Guerrilla Film Maker's Handbook, the film grossed £1056, for 209 tickets sold.{{cite book |title=The Guerrilla Film Makers Handbook |first1=Chris |last1=Jones |first2= Genevieve |last2=Jolliffe |page=448 |publisher= Continuum |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8264-7988-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pap7NL-Y1SgC&pg=PA448

References

References

1. "Script". emotional-backgammon.com.
2. Russell, Jamie (22 August 2003). [https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/08/22/emotional_backgammon_2003_review.shtml ''Emotional Backgammon'' review]. [[BBC]].
3. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260878/fullcredits ''Emotional Backgammon'']. IMDb Full Credits.
4. Cline, Rich (21 August 2003). [http://www.shadowsonthewall.co.uk/03/emotback.htm "''Emotional Backgammon'' (review)"]. Shadows on the Wall.
5. Swift, Angela. (10 October 2003). "''Emotional Backgammon''". TalkingPix (UK).
6. ACP (2003). [http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/63849/emotional-backgammon.html ''Emotional Backgammon'']. ''TimeOut Film Guide''. ''[[Time Out (magazine). Time Out]]''.

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