He sees a better life in front of him, but finds himself locked in a world of daydreaming, imagining himself as a beloved military leader of the fictional country of Ambrosia, or as an imprisoned writer fighting a heroic battle for human rights. His dreams distract him from the web of lies he has constructed over a matter of 250 stolen calendars and his proposals of marriage to two local girls.
Courtenay portrays Billy with both a quiet despair and an energetic eccentricity that give the film a positive energy. When, in the last half hour of the film, he meets up with his old school friend Liz (Julie Christie, in a mesmerising debut), who reflects his sense of whimsy with her own determination to escape to a better life, he seems to have found a way out.
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