The British film “The Phantom of the Open,” directed by actor Craig Roberts, is not only “twee.” It’s twee with a tee. The phantom in question is real-life Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance, sporting flaring eyebrows), a crane driver from Barrow-in-Furness, who marries a single mother named Jean (Sally Hawkins). They raise three sons, and in the mid-1970s, just about the time their oldest son, Michael (Jake Davies), is starting out in the executive offices at the shipyard where his father works and the younger twins are embarking on a not-entirely-brilliant career as disco dancers, Maurice decides to compete in the British Open, even though he has never swung a golf club.
You see, Maurice is one of those people who believe you must follow your dreams. Or as Oscar Wilde put it, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” While working-class men from Barrow-in-Furness are often referred to as “shipyard fodder” because that is the only work they can get, Maurice has other plans as well. Becoming a great golfer is one of them.
The Phantom of the Open” takes its name from a headline about Maurice in a British newspaper. Get ready to hear all those disco hits you’d hoped never to have to listen to again.
