"Darling" is John Schlesinger's 1965 film about living La Dolce Vita and
hating every boring, opulent minute of it. It's all about Diana who
sleeps her way to the top, marries a prince but is terribly unhappy.
No, not that Diana and not that prince; that's an entirely different
movie! This Diana is called Scott, not Spencer, and she's played by
Julie Christie and she's stunning. Christie came from nowhere, (well, "Billy Liar"to be exact), and was enough of a breath of fresh
air
in sixties cinema to get her the Oscar. Among the men she picks up and
drops, or who drop her, are Dirk Bogarde, (superb, and winning a
BAFTA), Laurence Harvey and Ronald Curram. Bogarde leaves his wife for
her, Harvey's a heel, (isn't he always), and Curram's gay so her
interest in him is purely platonic. It was a huge hit and writer
Frederic Raphael also won the Oscar for his highly original screenplay.
It was also the film that established Schlesinger as an international
director of note. Now, of course, it's something of a period piece as
so many mid-sixties movies are, (and it's at its worst in the obligatory
orgy sequence), but there's so much talent on view that it's a very
difficult film to dislike and it's still surprisingly entertaining.
"Darling" is John Schlesinger's 1965 film about living La Dolce Vita and
hating every boring, opulent minute of it. It's all about Diana who
sleeps her way to the top, marries a prince but is terribly unhappy.
No, not that Diana and not that prince; that's an entirely different
movie! This Diana is called Scott, not Spencer, and she's played by
Julie Christie and she's stunning. Christie came from nowhere, (well, "Billy Liar"to be exact), and was enough of a breath of fresh air
in sixties cinema to get her the Oscar. Among the men she picks up and
drops, or who drop her, are Dirk Bogarde, (superb, and winning a
BAFTA), Laurence Harvey and Ronald Curram. Bogarde leaves his wife for
her, Harvey's a heel, (isn't he always), and Curram's gay so her
interest in him is purely platonic. It was a huge hit and writer
Frederic Raphael also won the Oscar for his highly original screenplay.
It was also the film that established Schlesinger as an international
director of note. Now, of course, it's something of a period piece as
so many mid-sixties movies are, (and it's at its worst in the obligatory
orgy sequence), but there's so much talent on view that it's a very
difficult film to dislike and it's still surprisingly entertaining.
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