It is a mightily impressive film, very glad I finally decided to track it down. I agree with you that the British context for this kind of violence and depravity is very different to the American one and that it is one that merits real exploration.

I also adored the way that Johnson starts in on Baxter by talking about incredibly banal relationship problems. As though it’s the most natural thing in the world for someone to start raping children when they realise that their relationship isn’t as physical as they’d like. It speaks of this world of separate beds, throat-to-ankle nighties and a growing sense of anger and frustration cloaked behind a veneer of happiness and socialising.

All the stuff about seeing the people you hated at school but being perfectly aware of how you’re doing better than them is so quintessentially English and of that period.