Langrishe Go Down (20 Sep. 1978)

In the late 1930s, three reclusive middle-aged spinster sisters live on their run down family estate in Ireland. Otto Beck, a perpetual graduate student from Bavaria with a habit of making ... See full summary »

Director:

David Hugh Jones

Writers:

Aidan Higgins (novel), Harold Pinter (screenplay)

Stars:

Judi Dench, Jeremy Irons, Annette Crosbie

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Judi Dench	...	Imogen Langrishe
Jeremy Irons	...	Otto Beck
Annette Crosbie	...	Helen Langrishe
Susan Williamson	...	Lily Langrishe
Margaret Whiting	...	Maureen Layde
Harold Pinter	...	Barry Shannon
John Molloy	...	1st man on bus
Niall O'Brien	...	2nd man on bus
Arthur O'Sullivan	...	Joseph Feeney
Michael O'Brian	...	Priest (as Michael O'Briain)
Liam O'Callaghan	...	Mr. Langrishe
Joan O'Hara	...	Mrs. Langrishe

Storyline

In the late 1930s, three reclusive middle-aged spinster sisters live on their run down family estate in Ireland. Otto Beck, a perpetual graduate student from Bavaria with a habit of making pompous declamations, rents the back lodge to work on his esoteric thesis. Imogen Langrishe, the least repressed of the sisters, begins an affair with Otto. Imogen takes the love affair seriously, but Otto just enjoys the cheap lodging and the comfort of Imogen.

---

Plot Keywords:

based on novel

---

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English French German

Release Date:

20 September 1978 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Ferrybank, Waterford, Ireland

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Helen Langrishe: [speaking to herself, alone in bed] Poking about again. Poking about as usual. I've eyes in my head. I won't go out again. I won't go down again. I'll stay where I am. I'll stay here, in my bed.
[takes letter from behind pillow]
Helen Langrishe: I'm no good without you. Your lovely body. Love of all my life and all my senses. Days are passing, years could go by. Oh, my love, the happiness we had. Your lovely body. Love of all my life and all my senses.

---

Connections

Featured in Judi Dench talks to Richard Eyre (2002)

User Reviews

Good acting is not enough.

Yes, the acting was fine with every cast member turning in an honest and convincing performance. And there was plenty of atmosphere--the genteel poverty of the sisters, the rustic cottage of the scholar, the Dublin scene. But even Judy Dench and Jeremy Irons couldn't make it matter. The screenplay was so understated as to be incomprehensible. I never did figure out the business with the letters or the problem with the older sister.

Dame Judy was quite a sexy number back in the day,and the young Jeremy was--as ever--terrifically appealing and gifted (although his nose looked a lot different than it did a few years later in Brideshead Revisited!). But as hard as they work to draw us in, we keep thinking, "Why?" Why are these characters doing what they're doing, and, most of all, why are we spending two hours of our lives watching a drama that is giving us back absolutely nothing?"