Darling
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Movie Reviews of Darling
Movie Review: Running on Empty in the Swingin' Sixties
Summary: 4 Stars
"Darling", the brittle mid-1960s cult classic, was written by Frederick Raphael (he won an Oscar for the script) and directed by John Schlesinger. Like a handful of other interesting black and white films from this era written by authors like Raphael and Alan Sillitoe, "Darling" has dated somewhat, although not in a way that devalues its superb qualities. Think, for example, of "Morgan!", "Georgy Girl", and "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner". Although these are all very different films, each reflects something of Britain's mood during the early to mid-1960s as Britain questioned, particularly through the medium of theatre and film, issues of class loyalty, tradition, and values in a period of shifting social mores.
The film is most noteworthy for the excellence of the script and the performances of its two leads, Julie Christie and Dirk Bogarde. Although Christie won a Best Actress Oscar for her role, in this reviewer's opinion, Dirk Bogarde's performance is even more memorable. This is not to belittle Christie's fine work; however, Christie was the startling newcomer and naturally attracted more attention than the established Bogarde, whose work here is so good as to be "invisible". It is easy to forget what a very, very, very fine actor Bogarde was until you revisit a film like this. It is a long way from Sidney Carton in "A Tale of Two Cities" to Robert Gold in "Darling".
Christie plays Diana Scott, a beautiful but curiously blank woman who uses her looks to attach a series of increasingly prominent and wealthy men, in hopes that each successive relationship will finally help her achieve the solid identity she craves. Christie portrays Diana as an empty canvas upon which she invites her lovers to paint, as she adapts herself, chameleon-like, to each one's values and tastes. But Diana selects her lovers on the basis of their worldly assets, which cannot help her clarify her own identity, any more than those assets wholly define the identities of the men who hold them. Diana never comes to understand this, and steps Gatsby-like over one man after another, evading responsibility for the emotional chaos she creates, yet never quite finding the one relationship that will make her feel real and complete. In fact, Diana Scott rather reminds one of a later charismatic, British, blonde Diana, who also tried to anchor a narcissistic, internal vagueness through external relationships - with equally little success.
Bogarde plays Robert Gold, a TV journalist who meets the pretty housewife accidentally and gives her a start in modeling - he falls hopelessly in love with her and leaves his wife and children for her. But, as Diana's career takes off, she begins to drift toward men who she believes have more to offer her than Robert does. Robert soon grasps the empty narcissism that produces Diana's vague amorality, but cannot shake free of his feeling for her, with tragic consequences for himself. Ironically, Robert is the one man in Diana's life who loves her for "herself" - the very "self" she is seeking in other places. As Diana joins the restless 1960s jet-set, the film highlights the equally narcissistic, quickly jaded characters and tastes of its members.
Christie's look is also redolent of the era: the heavy eye-makeup, thick hair, jaunty mini-skirts, and Couregges boots, all have the peculiar effect of deadening, rather than enhancing her beauty, so perfectly iconic of the 1960s.
The black and white photography is by Ken Higgins, and the supporting cast includes the always fascinating Laurence Harvey as the cold, calculating Miles Brand, another of Diana's lovers.
This is an expertly crafted film, from script to direction to performances. To say that it is "dated" is to use the term to express only its cultural specificity. The anguish of its characters and the quality of its script ensure that its specificity does not dilute its broader relevance.
"Darling" is a fine, if sad and unsettling film, a classic of the 1960s, containing marvellous performances by now-legendary actors.
Movie Review: Intriguing Film from 60's England
Summary: 4 Stars
I have never particularly been a Julie Christie fan. There's no denying that she is beautiful and talented, but there is something about her that has always left me cold. In "Dr. Zhivago", I never understood why Yuri left Tonya for her Lara. In this film, however, she seems perfectly cast as the social climbing model who will do anything and use anyone to get to the next level. She even engenders some sympathy for her character when she attains her "dream" and it's not all that it's cracked up to be. The reason she probably won the Oscar for this performance is that she made an essentially unsympathetic character somewhat bearable. Not to be overlooked is Dirk Bogarde's sympathetic portrayal as the writer who Christie's Diana uses on her way to the top but who inevitably gets the last laugh on her. One thing that struck me was how sexually provocative this film was considering it was made in 1965.Movie Review: Story of a poor little rich girl
Summary: 4 Stars
Diana Scott (Julie Christie) has just made the cover of "Ideal Woman" magazine. In a flashback, she recalls her rise to fame and fortune, beginning as a 20-year old would-be model in swinging-sixties London. She was beautiful, hip, and full of life, gliding easily through love affairs and joining the ranks of the upper class.
Christie was so young and beautiful in this movie! Even with the black and white photography, she's luminous, dynamic, and, yes, darling. In her Oscar-winning role, she climbs the social ladder using Dirk Bogarde and Lawrence Harvey as two of her stepping stones; they're both excellent.
The movie is such a product of it's time (1965) and puts so much emphasis on her trendy wardrobe that it seemed a bit dated to me. Also, there were a few scenes when I thought she hammed it up too much, but still I enjoyed her and the movie and recommend it.
Movie Review: Fashion...
Summary: 4 Stars
'All lies are truth at a time.' This film has been unfairly criticized for the amorality and avarice of its main character, the heavy-handedness of direction, and datedness. These 'faults' are actually the film's strengths. The glass motif emphasizes the transparency, impenetrability, separateness and emptiness of the sweet life in sixties London. Decadence is never unfashionable; Image is character.Movie Review: A real Princess
Summary: 3 Stars
I missed this movie when it came out:
the resulting character is sort of a cross between Grace Kelly and Princess Diana. For men this blond bomb shell is a disaster.
She pretty much has her way with life,
and finds that what she thought she wanted wasn't exactly what she really needed?
The two male actors are great and I think better than the star Julie Christie. The screen play is right on and seems to nail
down this sort of popular woman.