KAREL REISZ

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB. 

United Kingdom, 1981.  Juniper Films.  Screenplay by Harold Pinter, based on the novel by John Fowles.  Cinematography by Freddie Francis.  Produced by Leon Clore.  Music by Carl Davis.  Production Design by Assheton Gorton.  Costume Design by Tom Rand.  Film Editing by John Bloom.  

Two stories are woven into one in this intelligent adaptation of John Fowles’s novel, one about contemporary actors and the other the film that they are making. In the film-within-the-film, Jeremy Irons plays a well-to-do gentleman who becomes obsessed with a strange woman (Meryl Streep at her most ghostly) whom he spies standing at the end of a pier, waiting for her lover to return. He threatens his status as a gentleman, not to mention his relationship with his fiance, by becoming involved in this misunderstood woman’s life and her tragic plight. Switch back to modern day, where actress Streep is having an affair with co-star Irons but not being very forthcoming about her emotions or where she sees the relationship going. The classic story is really the one that this film hangs on, with the second tale being merely a conceptual frame, but both are acted impeccably by the leads and scripted with terrific dialogue by Harold Pinter. The sets and costumes are beautiful, the music score unforgettably haunting, but there is an element of passion missing.  Streep is divine in her first lead role but she was to get much better in the years to come, and her performance is sometimes a bit too perfect to the point of being a bit theatrical (and it’s never clear whether or not that’s Streep the actress or Streep the actress playing the actress that is responsible for this).

The Criterion Collection:  #768

Academy Award Nominations:  Best Actress (Meryl Streep); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Art Direction; Best Costume Design; Best Film Editing

Golden Globe Award:  Best Actress-Drama (Meryl Streep)
Nominations: Best Picture-Drama; Best Screenplay