Film Review
This superlative adaptation of L.P. Hartley's classic novel marked the
third and final collaboration of American film director Joseph Losey
and British playwright Harold Pinter, who had previously worked
together on
The Servant
(1963) and
Accident
(1967). Beautifully photographed, with a lush palate that
instantly evokes the period setting,
The Go-Between is arguably Losey's
most lyrical and accessible film - a compelling coming-of-age
drama that sensitively portrays an adolescent's first traumatic
encounter with sex. The film also offers a vivid account of the
mores of the time in which the story is set, highlighting both the
iniquity of the class system
and the repressed lifestyle that the starched late Victorian
society insisted upon, particularly for women.
The reason why
The Go-Between
is such a powerful film is because it tells a simple story which we can
readily relate to our own experiences. We first see a perfect
world of childhood innocence (one where you expect the theme to
Black Beauty to come crashing through at
any moment). It is a world of eternal green fields and blue skies,
a world where grown-ups are easily codified as good or bad,
and where dangers, where they exist,
are easily identified (deadly nightshade, for instance).
There are no hidden threats, no sordid undercurrents.
Everything is child's play.
But then it changes.
Gradually, this perfect romantic idyll is transformed
into the dark grubby world of adult experience, as the central character Leo makes the
painful transition into adolescence. Most of us look back on our
childhood as a time of endless summers and blissful innocence, which
ends with spectacular abruptness when the hormones kick in during our
Hellish thirteenth year. The film captures this devastating moment of
metamorphosis, this expulsion from the Eden of childhood,
with pathos and exquisite simplicity, in a way that any spectatator can identity with.
Whilst Losey and his cinematographer Gerry Fisher are responsible
for much of the film's impact, Pinter's work on the script is also commendable,
as is the contribution from the high calibre cast, which is headed by stars Julie Christie
and Alan Bates. Making his film debut was Dominic Guard, who won
a BAFTA (in the most promising newcomer category) for his portrayal of
the instantly likeable young Leo; he went on to play the part of the
young Huw Morgan in the acclaimed 1976 BBC TV production of
How Green Was My Valley.
The film won three other BAFTAs - including best screenplay and awards
for Edward Fox and Margaret Leighton. It also won the
coveted Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1971. Although it is not as
widely appreciated as some of Joseph Losey's other films,
The Go-Between deserves to be
considered one of his major achievements - a delicately crafted and
intensely poignant rendition of a great work of English literature.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Joseph Losey film:
The Assassination of Trotsky (1972)
Film Synopsis
In the long hot summer of 1900, 12-year-old Leo Colston spends his
holiday as a guest of his school friend Marcus Maudsley at the latter's
sprawling Norfolk estate. Leo comes from a comparatively modest
background and so he finds it hard to fit into the Maudsleys'
privileged way of life. When Marcus is struck down with measles, Leo
begins to take an interest in his older sister, Marian, and is coerced
into delivering secret letters between her and a local farmer, Ted
Burgess. Leo's growing unease over his role as an intermediary for
the two lovers is accompanied by an increasing curiosity about the
mysteries of sex, about which he knows absolutely nothing. When
he learns that Marian is to become engaged to a viscount, Hugh
Trimington, Leo refuses to act as message boy any longer...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.