From Down Terrace to High-Rise: The ‘Unreal Estate’ Cinema of Ben Wheatley

Abstract

In this chapter, I suggest that Wheatley’s films constitute a subversive ‘unreal estate’ cinema. That is, through the hallucinatory qualities of his work, Wheatley challenges the ‘reality’ of ‘real estate’, thereby undermining the way in which the term is used to legitimise certain ways of organising and owning space in the contemporary world. Furthermore, I shall argue that the violence that commonly erupts in Wheatley’s films functions as an expression of the violence inherent in the organisation of space that he identifies—including the organisation of space that is the nation. While Wheatley might be accused of glorifying violence, and thus implicitly of endorsing an organisation of space and real estate that is divisive and thus also violent, the disturbing nature of his films instead highlights and thus opens space for critique of the violent organisation of (space in) the UK.