The Go-Between (1970)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Joseph Losey

Writers:

Harold Pinter (screenplay)
L.P. Hartley (novel)

Release Date:

December 1970 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Tale of torrid and forbidden love between Christie and Bates in the English countryside.

Plot Keywords:

1900 | Norfolk | Go Between | Early 20th Century | England

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 8 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Julie Christie	...	Marian - Lady Trimingham
Alan Bates	...	Ted Burgess
Margaret Leighton	...	Mrs. Maudsley
Michael Redgrave	...	Leo Colston - adult
Dominic Guard	...	Leo Colston - boy
Michael Gough	...	Mr. Maudsley
Edward Fox	...	Hugh Trimingham
Richard Gibson	...	Marcus Maudsley
Simon Hume-Kendall	...	Denys
Roger Lloyd-Pack	...	Charles (as Roger Lloyd Pack)
Amaryllis Garnett	...	Kate (as Amaryllis Garnet)
Keith Buckley
John Rees
Gordon Richardson

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1989) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Elstree Film and TV Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

EMI Films

Trivia:

Michael Gough was third choice for the part of Mr Maudsley.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "thirtysomething: The Go Between (#3.23)" (1990)

Soundtrack:

TAKE A PAIR OF SPARKLING EYES

THE GO-BETWEEN (Joseph Losey, 1971) ***1/2

Richly-detailed period romantic drama, told more or less from a child's viewpoint but treated with the maturity one has come to expect from a Losey film (the main plot is interspersed with fragmented clips of the boy as an old man - played by Sir Michael Redgrave - revisiting the aristocratic country estate where the majority of the narrative takes place).

Though the characters are rather swamped by their surroundings (the two leads are particularly subdued) - as captured by the gleaming cinematography of Gerry Fisher and the elegant décor of Carmen Dillon - the film allows for several good performances from a sturdy cast, including Dominic Guard (as the boy Leo who acts as messenger in the impossible love between upper-class Julie Christie and commoner Alan Bates, both of whom he idolizes), Edward Fox (as Christie's intended, a war-hero), as well as Margaret Leighton and Michael Gough (as her parents); Leighton's role remains in the background for most of the time but, then, she asserts herself during the last third to bring down the couple's relationship - with the unwilling assistance of the bewildered Guard. Besides, Michel Legrand contributes an atypically ominous yet haunting score.

This was the third and last time Losey and screenwriter Harold Pinter worked together, constituting a very fruitful and quite extraordinary collaboration; for about two-thirds of its length, the film finds Losey somewhere near his best - the contemporary subplot where Leo reprises his 'services' for an older Christie works less well, in my opinion (and is too sketchily presented anyway), rendering an already deliberately-paced film somewhat overlong!

THE GO-BETWEEN won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for an impressive 12 BAFTA awards (winning 4) but received only 1 Oscar nomination (for Leighton as Best Supporting Actress).