If…

A modern classic in which Anderson minutely captures both the particular ethos of a public school and the general flavour of any structured community, thus achieving a clear allegorical force without sacrificing a whit of his exploration of an essentially British institution. The impeccable logic of the conclusion is in no way diminished by having been lifted from Vigo's Zéro de Conduite, made thirty-five years earlier. If... was also a timely film - shooting began two months before the events of May 1968 in Paris. Along with The White Bus, it put Anderson into a pretty high league; the major disappointment of O Lucky Man!, followed by the disastrous Britannia Hospital, took him back out of it again.