Darling
by John Schlesinger
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dirk Bogarde, Jos? Luis de Villalonga, Julie Christie, Laurence Harvey, Roland CurramDirector: John Schlesinger
Brand: CHRISTIE,JULIE
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 127 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-12-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Darling
Movie Review: Much More Than Carnaby Street Eye Candy
Summary: 5 Stars
When I was a teenager in New York, I happened to flip the channel and came upon this movie, which I observed for no more than ten minutes. It left an indelible impression on me, but not because of the witty dialogue or well-crafted cinematography. It was Julie Christie who drew me in, and many years later on my first viewing of the complete film, it is Christie who continues to beckon me, but not just with her beauty.
Handing an up-and-coming star so much screen time (or shall we call it "face time") as director Schlesinger did in "Darling" can be a risky proposition, but it pays off handsomely here. Christie truly deserved her Oscar for this emotionally wide-ranging, nicely nuanced performance of a narcissistic social climber in the "Swinging Sixties." She's adroitly paired with Dirk Bogarde to create an "owl and pussycat" story line, and Laurence Harvey is brought in as a manipulative, sexually ambiguous poseur who shows "Diana" the darker side of success. (Harvey's selection was somewhat ironic given his own "climb the ladder" character in "Room at the Top.")
"Darling" offers a true-to-life window into the growing glitterati subculture that was starting to flower after the Fifties. Most of the main characters make their living through the creation of images (a model, television personality, photographer, advertising man and revered writer), and Diana learns how to use her assets in this milieu most effectively. For all her conquests, all her connections, and all her globetrotting, the broadest, most genuine smiles come across her face when she is "in the moment" with her gay photographer friend or children - individuals who do not threaten to shatter her glass-like personality. Unfortunately, that apparent happiness is not to be sustained by the time the film ends.
Visually, "Darling" is a delight. The opening sequence, in which a poster on world hunger is papered over with a close-up of model Diana, effectively sets the stage for a steady string of sardonic observations by screenwriter Rafael, especially in the charity dinner and art gallery sequences. The episode in the Parisian salon comes off as a psychologically troubling mixture of Fellini freaks and the beach scene in "Suddenly Last Summer", and the cottage and verandah scene on the Italian Riviera is simply stunning. Director Schlesinger could easily have opted for color, but wisely chose black-and-white as befit the plot line and moral ambiguity of many of his characters.
About the only criticism one might make of this film is the too-obvious post-colonial moralizing about "haves" and "have nots." Other than that, "Darling" is much more than eye candy - a well acted, witty, and sometimes troubling look at a coterie of "haves" who grasp the railing on the merry-go-round hard, many times at personal cost.
Summary of Darling
Julie Christie turns in an astonishing, Oscar?(r)-winning* performance in this "sensitive and stunning tale" (Cue) about wanting it alland getting exactly what you wish for. Directed by John Schlesinger from an Oscar?(r)-winning* screenplay by Frederic Raphael, Darling is "a slashing social satire loaded with startling expositions and lacerating wit" (The New York Times). Ambitious model Diana Scott (Christie) uses her relationships to turn a low-rent career into a high-gear smorgasbord of jet-setting, love-making and the pursuit of hedonistic happiness. But as she moves from one fiery tryst with a TV writer (Dirk Bogarde) to another with a suave playboy (Laurence Harvey) and yet another with a crown prince, she finds that happiness is the one thing that may elude her forever. *1965: Actress (Christie), Original Screenplay, Costume DesignJulie Christie's miracle year of 1965 (she was also in Doctor Zhivago) was capped by a best-actress Oscar? for this sardonic take on Swinging London. Looking about as gorgeous as women get, Christie ascends the ladder of social success, trampling everybody in her path--an ascent that allows writer Frederic Raphael and director John Schlesinger to slash away at the morally bankrupt world that would enable such a person to triumph. Cynics might suggest that Schlesinger's approach, rife with the experiments of New Wave filmmaking, is nearly as empty and showy as the world it describes... which may be why this movie seems more dated than, say, Richard Lester's films from the '60s. Still, with Christie getting generous and suave support from two of the top British stars of the day, Dirk Bogarde and Laurence Harvey, Darling remains a watchable missive from a volatile era. --Robert Horton
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