Keep the Aspidistra Flying (released in the United States, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe as A Merry War) is a 1997 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Robert Bierman[3] and based on the 1936 novel by George Orwell.
Gordon Comstock (Grant) is a successful copywriter at a flourishing advertising firm in 1930s London.
His girlfriend and co-worker, Rosemary (Bonham Carter), fears he may never settle down with her when he suddenly disavows his money-based lifestyle and quits his job for the artistic satisfaction of writing poetry.
[5] Derek Elley of Variety magazine called it a terrific adaptation, and a "constant, often very funny delight to the ears".
[4] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4 and wrote: "For me it works not only as a reasonable adaptation of an Orwell novel I like, but also as a form of escapism, since if the truth be known I would be happy as a clerk in a London used-book store.