gavin6942
The mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.Roger Ebert called it "a haunting film, because it dares to suggest that the death of the stranger is important to everyone it touches – because it forces them to decide how alive they really are." That is one way of looking at it. Others have called the film a "puzzle" with pieces out of order and perhaps even missing.I liked the idea of a man who kills himself for no reason, and everyone around left to wonder. I am less thrilled about some of the follow-up. His life as a mystery seems better to me than exploring it, but others may disagree.
douglasbrook-1
Brilliant layered film. Love the cinematography and the score - so moving - this is a "cinematic' film - it takes you to another place. I love the moody setting. I read David Hare wanted to show how ordinary lives can have operatic emotions and he captures this with the score. Love the flashbacks and the way the puzzle and mystery slowly forms. All of the different themes and characters add up to a potent emotional cocktail and comment on life, growing up, growing old, dreams and expectations, the search for meaning in our lives. "A girl ran away today". 'Good luck to her". "Yes good luck". I love it when Vanessa Redgraves character feels as if the young guy's spirit is pulling her down and the detective tells her she needs to fight. It seems her broken heart and inner melancholy allowed her to connect to him and his sense of disillusionment with the modern world.
Bishonen
David Hare's quiet masterpiece conveys a genuine sense of alienation and dislocation while covering a great deal of social and political ground. It never loses sight of the human story, though; the loneliness of the characters comes through in this startlingly intelligent drama which unfolds slowly, like a flower under time lapse photography. We watch the bloom, flowering and eventual withering of the characters' bodies and minds over several decades of social discord, emotional disappointments and lost dreams.It's stunning how Hare constructs such an involving character study under the framework of a conventional mystery. The inexplicable suicide of a young man draws the viewer in but it's the characters that involve the viewer in a greater mystery of the heart; how did these people get to this point in their lives and the history of a nation? Hare delicately examines the spiritual decay of late-20th century British society and how it impacts all generations, from the haunted post-war generation to the alienated, disconnected contemporary youth. Ultimately both groups are unable to reach out to each other, trapped in the inescapable malaise which spares no-one.Vanessa Redgrave carries this film. In her eyes a dazzling spectrum of emotions infuse her scenes with joy, heartbreak, hopelessness, elation, and everything else in between. It's a brilliantly written film but no words are necessary to understand the despair. It's all in her eyes.
Rigor
Vanessa Redgrave gives a breathtaking performance in this extremely well written and executed 'puzzle' movie. Many of the initial reviews of this film in 1985 pointed out Redgrave's great performance but failed to appreciate the overall quality of Hare's direction and screenplay. This is a great modern film, easily one of the best English language films of the 1980's. Redgrave plays a single teacher who is shocked when a young stranger enters her house and for no rational reason commits suicide in front of her. As she, her best friends (well played by Judi Dench and Ian Holm), a sympathetic yet slightly obsessive detective and a young woman from the dead man's past (a remarkable performance by Suzanna Hamilton) all struggle to discover why the young man chose this woman to witness his death, we are drawn into a beautifully nuanced philosophical examination of the meaning of life in a time of negative social change (Thatcher, Reagan and the spectre of Richard Nixon haunt the film's characters). The examination of the young man nihilistic choice to kill himself is reflected in the seemingly growing alienation of the students in Redgrave's class and her struggle to remain proactive as a teacher and a human being despite personal tragedies and the political/social chaos of the Thatcher years. A really captivating film that deserves a much wider audience.
AD
