Very Cool!!!

Excellent, a Must See

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Invited by his upper crust classmate Marcus Maudsley to summer at his family estate thirteen year old Leo Colston is taken into confidence by Marcus's beautiful older sister Marian (Julie Christie) to act as a messenger to her illicit lover, local farmer Ted Burgess (Alan Bates.) Marian is engaged to Lord Trimingham (Edward Fox) whom Leo develops a strong liking for. This complicates matters for Leo who has the same feelings for Ted and out right affection for Marian. The child's innocence becomes a detriment however when he attempts to make sense of the adult world through inquiry of those very much involved and it holds drastic consequence for all.Sumptuously photographed (Gerry Fisher) and magnificently costumed The Go-Between evokes an almost fairy tale milieu in it's early moments with summer in full bloom and the well heeled Maudsleys lounging in finery amid the lush green trappings of their estate. The Empire in 1900 is still sun 24/7 and the Maudleys, confident and mildly aloof, representative of that power. Seen through the adolescent eyes of Marcus we are exposed to the hypocritical trappings of class snobbery, stuffiness and rules of the game. As things begin to unravel the lush lazy days of summer become more storm ridden and the restraint and decorum of the Maudsleys frayed all of which is powerfully summed up and splendidly depicted by Director Joseph Losey in a scene that begins with Leo's birthday party with everyone festooned in paper party hats.Losey's understated style does a nice job of slowly revealing his story for maximum effect. His use of flash forward, confusing at first, is spare but well utilized to tie lose ends together. The overall morose mood of the film is retained throughout though Lalo Schiffrin's score reeking of hysteria threatens it on more than one occasion.Christie and Bates, Edward Fox as Twillingham and the young Dominic Guard are excellent fits in their roles but Margaret Leighton as Lady Maudsley turns on the jets as the film closes and walks away with the acting honors.

When one hears the music from the Thomas Crown Affair, Summer of '42 and Yentl, its easy to understand why composer Michel Legrand has won three Oscars. I think for this film he had a really, really off-day. The strident piano music sounds like an attempt to harmonically illustrate the discord between the Leo's infatuation with the beautiful Marian, and the actuality of her coquettish behaviour. It's ridiculously unsubtle and becomes more and more tiresome as it repeats with almost every dramatic turn the film takes. The only other criticism is that some of flash forwards are very poorly lit and I can't see how this is for any particular dramatic effect. The cast is superb - Margaret Leighton well deserving her Oscar nomination, the dialogue is nicely balanced, the pace well-judged. Lovely film - really awful music.

This is a beautifully filmed piece of cinema in which the real "stars" are time and place. The plot, such as it is, is rather thin and drawn out, whilst characterisation is sketchy and insubstantial. There is a sense that such sketchiness is deliberate and justified in order to capture those distances which exist between childhood and the adult world, between one class and another and, of course, the sexes. Alan Bates' farmer Ted Burgess is given no depth beyond that of horny rustic, whilst Julie Christie as Marian wears her dresses well without once betraying any real hint of what she feels beneath her corset. This emotionless quality which hangs over the drama as heavily as the Norfolk heat in which it takes place is nowhere as perfectly captured as in the smoking room scene in which Hugh (Edward Fox) and the head of the household Mr Maudsley( Michael Gough) communicate over the head of Leo, wonderfully played by Dominic Court, with looks and pauses and words whose deeper meanings the young boy can only come to understand when he is older and able to look back on the events of that summer as an adult. No review of this film would be complete without a mention of Margaret Leighton's commanding performance as the powerful, class obsessed matriarch, Mrs Maudsley who, ultimately, is forced to cut through the knowing acceptance of the males, and bring the relationship between Marian and Ted to an end, at the same time, unwittingly bringing Leo face to face with the disturbing truth of what goes on between men and women in the world of adults.

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.