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27 reviews in total

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25 out of 30 people found the following review useful:
Elegant, tragic, yet oddly liberating, 10 May 2001

Author: zach-27 from ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

The first time I saw this film, I was 18 years old. Now, almost thirty years later, I am still enthralled by its two atmospheres - a hot summery Norfolk, England at the turn of the century versus a cloudy, rainy, modern-day Norfolk. The juxtaposition between the two periods is stunning, and mysterious. The acting is superb, the sets and costumes are superior, and the haunting Michel Legrand score stays with you long after the film is over. I find the film to be quite elegant in its scenes of yesteryear, where the "old" England seemed dreamy, leisurely, carefree, and prim and proper, compared to the dreary, coldly realistic, grown-up, modern-day England, where the past is spoken about, and an explanation of what happened in the past is requested.

Although the movie ends on a tragic note, there is a hint of hope which I found oddly liberating, a feature I didn't notice 30 years ago. But like fine wine, this movie ages well. Enjoy, and go on a trip to the past "...{where it's} a foreign country...they do things differently there."

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29 out of 39 people found the following review useful:
One of the greatest films ever, 15 November 2004

Author: diccongarrett from Toronto, Canada

Of course, it is all a matter of personal taste. However this film captures the painful endurance of Leo as his country collapses towards war, a rigid society faces its own internal turmoil and Leo is stripped of his innocence before he is ready.

Set during a blistering summer before the First World War in which Leo stays with the wealthy family of a schoolfriend, the story revolves around Leo's new acquaintances amongst the adults of the family and their circle of socialites (his friend is confined to bed with measles). Leo is drawn into acting as a messenger between Marian and Ted Burgess, a local yeoman farmer.

Beneath the surface is a compelling tension that encompasses Marian, her suitor (Viscount Trimmingham), Ted Burgess and Marian's mother. All of this is witnessed by Leo who has to deal with his burgeoning but still confused understanding of the situation and his own schoolboy affections for Marian.

The story boils to a climax when the oppressive summer finally breaks and the dramatic revelations violently alter the course of personal lives, society and England.

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19 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
THE GO-BETWEEN (Joseph Losey, 1970) ***1/2, 24 August 2006

Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

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).

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22 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Boy caught in Edwardian love triangle in his 13th year., 24 September 1999

Author: F Chang (fachang@mailexcite.com) from Ontario, Canada

Winsome Dominic Guard plays Leo in this movie made from the novel by the famous English physician and author, L. P. Hartley.

This was the first movie made by young Guard, who was 15 years old but playing a 13 year old boy. Guard went on to a movie career ending with a role in Gandhi (1982). He carries off the role of young Leo to perfection, with his long hair and fetching smile.

It is high summer in Edwardian England. Leo is from a single parent home, his father is dead. And his mother lives in reduced circumstances. His pal from boarding school, Marcus (played by Richard Gibson) brings him home to the family estate in Norfolk to spend the summer. England is having a heat wave that year, and the weather and scenery play as much of a role in this movie as do the actors.

Marcus' big sister, Marian (Julie Christie - Dr. Zhivago, etc.) has fallen for Ted (Alan Bates) the tenant farmer. This was a big no-no in the society of that time. She enthralls Leo, and uses him as the go-between, delivering messages for trysts with her lover.

Leo is turning 13 that summer. And he has a burning interest to find out "what happens after spooning? I don't know the word for it". Typical of a 13 year old boy. See Guard at his best acting the wondering Leo asking this question of his new pal, farmer Ted. Such wide eyed innocence.

Needless to say, Leo does find out the answer, somewhat to his horror, at the climax of the movie. This happens during his birthday party, which turns out to be the party from hell when his, Marian's and Ted's secret comes out.

It's a horrid end to a fabulous summer for the boy. He turns 13. He made new friends with Marian and Ted. The rich family of his pal Marcus treat him well. He even befriends Hugh, the viscount engaged to Marian. He makes the all-star catch at cricket to win the game for his side, even though it puts out Ted, the champion of the village versus the manor game.

Yet he also discovers betrayal, and lying. And all the charms of growing up.

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15 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
A haunting, stunning experience, 17 June 2006

Author: drschnitz-1 from United States

Easily one of the best acted, best directed and most intellectually intriguing films I have ever seen. Julie Christie is so lovely that you will never forget her. The screenplay by Pinter is impeccable, building a rhythmic alternation of times and places, an alternation that ultimately crashes together. I have seen this movie several times - like Casablanca, it just keeps getting better - and have taught it to inner-city pre-freshmen - they loved it. They were not at all used to films that try to be artistic creations, and the slowness of the pace at first threw them off. However, once we explored the multiple levels of meaning and revelation in each of the initial scenes, they became drawn into the film, caught up in its mystery and romance and fascinated by the vision of a totally alien, yet oddly familiar, world. Losey at his best is on a par with Renoir. Why isn't this film on DVD? Even the background music is really good.

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11 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Nicely composed English meditation on history, memory and sex, 11 July 2009

Author: Framescourer from London, UK

Losey/Pinter's adaptation of LP Hartley's novel follows Leo, invited to spend the summer with his upper crust schoolfriend's family in Norfolk. He contracts a bit of a crush on Julie Christie's Marian (his friend's older sister) and consequently gets drawn into the awkward, tacit love triangle between her fiancée Trimingham (Fox) and masculine local farmer Ted (Bates). Losey interpolates brief, silent flash-forwards to the present day as Leo revisits the area to speak with Marian in her dotage.

If one has seen, or, more pertinently, read Atonement (Joe Wright's film on Ian McEwan's book) then you'll be familiar with the themes and, in part, composition of The Go-Between. Leo divines the sexual tension and intent of the relationship between Marian and Ted but, being not only young but also uninitiated in the implicit obligations of the upper class, cannot understand why Marian is simultaneously agreeing to her union with Trimingham. Unlike Atonement, Leo doesn't wilfully interfere with the relationships. Instead he does act as a catalyst that allows them to happen and is consequently affected by the outcome - the final sequence is a dryly tragic denouement which recalls the TV interview epilogue of Atonement; only here there is no atonement to be made or had.

The film is beautifully and unequivocally shot. The past may indeed be a different country, as the voice-over tells us but it's not a figment of the imagination. The acting is very good, with the exception of the younger Maudsleys who are weak. Michel Legrand's score is a cunning set of neo-baroque variations for piano, rendered oppressively rather like the society and heat. Losey's handling of the drizzled flash-forwards is a beautifully rendered conceit that really makes the film for me: wistful, English and eloquent. 7/10

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12 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
A witness of a tragic love triangle, 13 September 2001

Author: kmoss55 from London

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I have watched this film several times and still find it quite captivating, despite the piano/singing sequences. The story by Hartley is much reminiscent of D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, written earlier. It has secret passion, deceit and class differences for main themes. I think some of the contents of the film may be a bit confusing or unclear for someone who has not read the book, but otherwise it is a good adaptation.

*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD***

Throughout the film we cannot help feeling sorry for the ever-running boy Leo (Dominic Guard), especially in two scenes: first when he is scolded by Marian (Julie Christie) for initially avoiding her request; she then manipulates him, making him feel guilty to get her own way. The cruelty lies in the use of her privileged status, which makes it easy for her to win over his resistance by reminding him of his poor background. Second when he is caught in his lies by Mrs Maudsley we can only pity him despite his mistakes.

The feeling of an imminent disaster is well present and the building of the tension announces the end of the deceit for Ted (Alan Bates) and Marian, as well as the young boy's lost innocence (after his initial ignorance about sexual matters or the details of the love affair itself). As soon as the secret is out, the triangular links are destroyed : the days of complicity between Leo and the two illicit lovers are over, and the truth is fatal to the other triangle formed by Ted, Marian and Hugh.

One of the interests of the film is in the use of a certain language ("spooning"), as well as the subtext ( Marian explaining to Leo : "I must marry him (Hugh)", implies the social pressure, the society expectation and probably the fact she must know she is pregnant at this stage).

Despite the tragic denouement and Leo's trauma there is a notion of hope at the end; Now a much older man Leo is given a last mission as a "postman". His revisit of the Hall is a journey into the past as well as an opportunity for him to discover the present results of what happened years ago.

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11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Growing pains..., 20 August 2008

Author: jc-osms from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The source novel, (obviously inspired by Lawrence's more carnal "Lady Chatterley's Lover") I had read a year or so ago on holiday and thoroughly enjoyed so it was with much anticipation that I settled down at last to watch this celebrated adaptation by American exile Joseph Losey, with its top-notch British cast. I wasn't disappointed. To the best of my recollection, the film is very true to the novel, only slightly modifying the epilogue-type ending by introducing the years-later reunion of Marion and Leo in teasingly inserted sequences which initially might confuse the casual viewer. The main theme of the movie, to my mind is the corruption of innocence as the adults in the world of naive young outsider Leo, take advantage of his susceptibility and willingness to please, not to mention his pubescent fascination with physical love, to use him as an unwitting pawn in their adult games of deception and lust. Thus we learn at the conclusion that Leo has never married or, even, by inference, enjoyed any kind of natural relationship with a woman, thus is his trust and innocence abused for all time.The film of course also comments tellingly on snobbery, class division and heroism in between-the-wars England but in the end its most important facet is the interplay of the four main characters, Marion, Ted Burgess, Lord Trillingham and of course young Leo, as the film moves inexorably towards its predictably tragic ending. The acting is generally very good, especially the main female parts played by Julie Christie and Margaret Leighton as errant daughter and suspicious mother respectively. The male acting I was slightly less enamoured of, Alan Bates failing to me to really suggest the rough physicality which draws Marion away from the safe, arranged, matrimonial match offered by the affable jolly good chap, Lord Trillingham, well played by a young Edward Fox. The young actor playing Leo, acts his part very well although the scenes with his young school-friend, Marion's younger brother, are a bit strained and accordingly unconvincing. The direction I found largely well-paced, although one or two short interludes seemed unnecessary in the editing and occasionally the frightfully, frightfully accents of the cast grated somewhat. Harold Pinter's screenplay stays properly close to its source and is less noticeably Pinter-ian than I would have expected, not too many characteristic pregnant pauses or repetitions. The climax (sorry, no pun intended) in the barn was effectively led up to and delivered. I did however find the music by Michel Legrand lacked a little subtlety, out of kilter with the delicate emotions on display here and also lacking the required pastoral touch. On the whole though this was a rewarding and entrancing movie, as good a classic book adaptation as you could hope to see and probably a precursor of Merchant-Ivory's success later in the decade.

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11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Victorian drama of the best kind. Sex ,Greed and Julie Christie. What a fantastic recipe!, 9 July 2006

Author: chucktum from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I loved this film. I am very upset it hasn't been put on DVD in NorthAmerican Format. It is well done and a true classic. Filmed in one of the most historic estates in England. Most of it is in complete ruin. The film opens with shots of the mansion as abandoned with rotting curtains blowing from windows that have long been broken. A grown man recalls his youth in the old mansion when it was filled with wealth and fashionable inhabitants. His part of the past was to deliver messages between two lovers that could bring great scandal if the details of there trysts were exposed until one of the letters is taken from his hand by the grand Dame of the house. The rest you will have to discover for yourself. Find the book if you can't find a copy of the film, It is well worth it.

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11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Love in a Heatwave, 30 July 2004

Author: James Hitchcock from Tunbridge Wells, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Contains spoilers

Based on a novel by L.P. Hartley, 'The Go-Between' is set during a hot August in late Victorian or Edwardian England. (References to the Boer War suggest that the year is 1900 or 1901). Leo, a twelve year old schoolboy has gone to stay with his school friend Marcus Maudsley and his wealthy family in their stately home in the Norfolk countryside. Leo meets Marcus's older sister Marion, who is secretly having an affair with Ted Burgess, a local farmer. Marion needs to keep this relationship hidden from her parents, who would not approve of Burgess as a potential son-in-law, partly because they regard him as being a social inferior, partly because he has a reputation (possibly undeserved) as a philanderer and partly because they are encouraging her to marry another suitor, the rich aristocrat Hugh Trimingham. In order to keep her secret, Marion needs a messenger to take messages between herself and Ted; she cannot trust the servants, whose first loyalty is to her father, so she enlists Leo as the 'go-between' of the film's title. Leo is ideal for this purpose; he is from a middle-class background less affluent than the Maudsleys and is too much in awe of the beautiful, sophisticated Marion to think of disobeying her. Moreover, his youth and innocence about sexual matters mean that he does not understand the full implications of Marion's friendship with Ted.

Throughout the film there are occasional scenes set at a later period in history- the late forties or fifties to judge by the clothes and vehicles that we see. These are initially very brief glimpses- lasting only a few seconds- but we later see more of this later period, including scenes of the now-elderly Marion and the middle-aged Leo.

The weather plays an important part in this film. The latter-day scenes are shot against a backdrop of grey, overcast skies. The turn of the century scenes, however, mostly take place against a background of sunshine and fierce heat. There is much evocative photography of the English countryside, the pale, sun-bleached colours capturing the dried-up, dusty look of a late summer heatwave. (The subdued tones of this film tend to set it apart from the richer colours of other examples of 'British heritage cinema' such as the work of Merchant Ivory. It is interesting that both Joseph Losey and James Ivory were American rather than British by birth). Although there are plenty of open vistas (Norfolk is one of the flattest parts of England), there is a stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere. The pace of the film is, for the most part, leisurely (the English upper classes rarely do anything in a hurry, particularly during hot weather), but there is always a sense of movement, slow but inexorable, towards some fateful denouement, a sense heightened by Michel Legrand's urgent, insistent musical score. (The scoring is reminiscent of a late Romantic piano concerto). Just as the hot weather is building up towards an inevitable thunderstorm, so the relationship between Marion and Ted is building towards a tragic climax. When this climax finally comes and their secret is revealed, it does so on a day of torrential rain after the weather has broken.

It is perhaps an interesting comment on changing climatic patterns that in the film a temperature of 83 degrees Fahrenheit (which today in Southern Britain would be regarded as a normal warm summer's day) is regarded as a record-breaking heatwave. In 1970, a year coming at the end of two decades of cool, rainy summers, hot weather was not something taken for granted, even in August.

One of the main themes of the film is an examination of the social class structure of the period. This structure is more subtle than a simple rich/poor divide. The Maudsleys, part of the landed gentry, are not quite aristocrats; Trimingham, a peer of the realm, is the genuine article, so they see his marriage to their daughter as a step towards social advancement. The family's attitude towards the bourgeois Leo is somewhat condescending as though he were a 'poor relation', but Leo's family are clearly not poor in any absolute sense; if they were, his widowed mother could not afford to send him to the same private school as Marcus. Even Burgess is probably comparatively prosperous- Norfolk contains some of the richest agricultural land in Britain- but his lowly social origins, betrayed by his rustic accent, and his status as a tenant count against him.

There are a number of excellent acting performances in the film, particularly from those two iconic sixties figures Julie Christie and Alan Bates as the doomed lovers, Margaret Leighton as Marion's obsessive mother whose prying precipitates the tragedy, Dominic Guard as young Leo and Michael Redgrave as the older Leo. The one thing I did not like was the use of the twenty-nine year old Christie to play the older Marion; even the use of make-up and low-level lighting could not make her a convincing seventy or eighty, and the film would have been improved by casting an older actress in the part.

Dominic Guard did not go on to make many more feature films, but the other major film in which he starred was Peter Weir's 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' five years later. There are a surprising number of parallels between the two films; both are set during a period of oppressive summer heat around 1900, both have a similarly claustrophobic atmosphere, and both deal with emerging female sexuality and with the Victorian/Edwardian class system. 'The Go-Between,' which is more realistic and less mystical in tone, is not quite on the same level as Weir's masterpiece, but it is nevertheless one of the best British films of the early seventies. (There are also parallels with the only other film in which Bates and Christie acted together, John Schlesinger's adaptation of Hardy's 'Far from the Madding Crowd'. With its rural setting and story of love between people of different social classes, Hartley's novel clearly shows the influence of Hardy). 8/10

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