SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY
Added 10/28/2009
What does true love really feel like? Is it a way to share one's true emotions with someone special? Is it the best solution to the emptiness that life in this world provides? And if it definitely fulfills one's existence, would it be worthwhile sharing it with more than one person, mainly if that person were of the same sex?
That's just the challenging subject the movie SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY depicts so brilliantly. Two years after showing how bitter loneliness in a big city can feel in the also excellent MIDNIGHT COWBOY, John Schlesinger shows us the uncertainty 'double love' can bring mainly to the people who have someone they love in common. Bob, who is the object of love of both Dr. Hirsch and Alex Greville, seems to go through such an experience quite naturally and without the slightest sense of guilt. However, both the man and the woman who love him seem to have their emotions over a barrel and fear to lose him, although they seem to accept or 'bear' each other reasonably well.
The final scene of the movie discloses the doctor's emotional fragility at the awareness of being left alone by the man he loves. When he states that he 'was there for the cough' - a brilliant set of words in a context that depicts his fight to be happy, he sums up what living is all about. In a nutshell, besides the wonderful performances of Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch. and Murray Head, SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY is a bitter essay on human fight for love and happiness in spite of the world's environment, which grows more and more hostile.
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Superb Mature Examination Of Adult Relationships Starring A Sublime Glenda Jackson
Added 10/28/2009
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" starring Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch and Murray Head was a truly groundbreaking film in so many ways when it was released in 1971. It takes a totally different slant on the examination of what relationships are between men and women than what audiences had seen before. The film was also remarkable by the intelligent way it depicted a relationship between two men as being both natural and loving at a time when gays, if they were even depicted at all on screen, were usually portrayed either as psycho's or degenerates or as effeminate objects of ridicule. The film portrays a highly sophisticated romantic triangle played out by the three main characters, a mature Jewish doctor and his younger artist partner who in turn shares his time with an older woman who works as a Employment Consutant. Three average people all with their needs, complexities and vulnerabilities beautifully played out by the three leads. The acting especially from Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch as the two people who must share the man they both love is a tour de force and both totally deserved the Academy Award nominations they received. Glenda Jackson's beautifully modulated performance only heightens the real sense of loss lovers of well acted cinema have in her having left films for a career in politics. It truly is one of her best performances right up their with her outstanding work in "Women in Love" the "Elizabeth R" mini series "A Touch of Class" and "Stevie". The films non sensational treatment of homosexuality makes it an important piece of film making that can still nevertheless be appreciated by all types of audiences, gay or straight. The film's examination of love between ordinary people with all their joys and pains gives "Sunday Bloody Sunday" an almost timeless quality relevant to any age and it's a piece of cinema that I find myself enjoying more each time I view it.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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"It Is So Seventies !"
Added 7/28/2008
I have loved this film since it was first released in Canada. I saw it at a theatre on Yonge Street in Toronto at a Saturday matinee where the kiss between the two men started a mini-riot sparked by some teen-aged boys in the audience. They were probably expecting a gangster movie !
I have over the years recommended the film, and loaned my VHS and DVD copies to people younger than myself who universally seem to have the same reaction, "It is so Seventies !" Never mind that it is one of the best acted films of its decade, and that it unflinchingly examines complex relationships with an honesty and integrity that would not be equaled for many years. (Possibly until BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.)
Essentially it is the tale of a complex triangle, one part straight, one part gay, where both relationships are going down the tubes simultaneously. The young man (Murray Head) at the center of both relationships is unaware of, or indifferent to, the hurt that he is causing his two lovers.
The acting of Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch is superb. Jackson is subtle and fascinating throughout, and Finch reaches a heartbreaking integrity in his final little speech spoken directly to the audience. Murray Head is better as the young artist who ignites the passions of the two others than he was generally given credit for. You need to see both his allure and his indifference, and he handles this tricky dichotomy very well.
Although it is very dark in mood much of the time, there are some sparks of humor, some of them provided by Bessie Love as a nosy operator at an answering service shared by the three protagonists. The children that are being babysat by Jackson and Head on the "bloody" weekend alluded to in the title, are a very smart observation of bright over-indulged children of the well educated upper-middle class. Jon Finch puts in a brief and disturbing appearance as a hustler that Finch has known sometime in his past.
I seem to remember reading that the "bar mitzvah" reception scene in the film was the most expensive food scene ever in film up to that time because they had to keep re-shooting it. It too provides some humor when Finch is sat down next to a recently divorced woman by his well intentioned and unaware family.
The gorgeous terzetto from Mozart's opera COSI FAN TUTTE that provides the frequently repeated "theme" for the film is an ideal choice. An operatic scene with a gorgeous melody which is about benevolent farewells
provides a moving sonic envelope for some of the most moving moments.
Is the film 'too seventies !' I think not. That the seventies were a time of overly casual sexual relationships is a media commonplace that doesn't really hold up to close scrutiny. There is nothing casual about the relationships ending in this film. At least two of the protagonists will be affected by their breakups for the rest of their lives.
3 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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a fine film
Added 4/23/2008
I couldn't add anything over/above that which has been said already about this film (in a variety of places, readily consultable). While I found "Women in Love" to be perhaps slightly more compelling, this is a very satisfying film; and I am very glad to have found a copy at last.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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A very thinky movie, considering
Added 2/10/2008
that it deals with two attractivre, middle-aged people, a man and a woman, deeply in love with the same young man, who returns both their loves (in fact, seems to be the most sexually agressive of the three), but who will not choose between the other two, and generally refuses to be crowded in any way. It seems that before the movie starts, both Alex (Glenda Jackson) and Daniel (Peter Finch) have agreed to this arrangement, no matter how uncomfortable it makes both of them. This makes for a superficially sophisticated, easy situation which is actually seething with emotion and frustration. Both of these people are rich in understanding, and seem as complete as a love-torn individual could be-- though Daniel easily has the more fulilling life (Alex is about to quit her job, and Daniel is an extremely competent doctor, whose feelings never interfere with his giving all his attention to his patients).
When Bob, the young man, decides to leave for New York anyway (to further his own career, an because he IS feeling too much pressure from both of them), Daniel says "it was better than nothing," while Alex says "sometimes, nothing is better than something." Is this a function of their belonging to two different sexes, or is one of them wrong, and the other one right?
Also, it occurs to me that a person's being unable to commit himself to you might have nothing to do with you; it might simply be that it is the wrong time for him to commit himself to anyone. Perhaps that time is yet to come, or past, or perhaps even--it will never come. Is this the case with Bob, the younger man?
That's what I meant by "thinky."
As I said, the relationship between the characters seems calm, but is in reality anything but. However, one of the striking features of this beautifully filmed and acted film is its faithful lack of message, and ITS acceptance of all its characters as a natural, if perhaps somewhat unusual, part of life. And this above all is what makes "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" such a pleasure to watch.
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SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY
Added 10/28/2009
What does true love really feel like? Is it a way to share one's true emotions with someone special? Is it the best solution to the emptiness that life in this world provides? And if it definitely fulfills one's existence, would it be worthwhile sharing it with more than one person, mainly if that person were of the same sex?
That's just the challenging subject the movie SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY depicts so brilliantly. Two years after showing how bitter loneliness in a big city can feel in the also excellent MIDNIGHT COWBOY, John Schlesinger shows us the uncertainty 'double love' can bring mainly to the people who have someone they love in common. Bob, who is the object of love of both Dr. Hirsch and Alex Greville, seems to go through such an experience quite naturally and without the slightest sense of guilt. However, both the man and the woman who love him seem to have their emotions over a barrel and fear to lose him, although they seem to accept or 'bear' each other reasonably well.
The final scene of the movie discloses the doctor's emotional fragility at the awareness of being left alone by the man he loves. When he states that he 'was there for the cough' - a brilliant set of words in a context that depicts his fight to be happy, he sums up what living is all about. In a nutshell, besides the wonderful performances of Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch. and Murray Head, SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY is a bitter essay on human fight for love and happiness in spite of the world's environment, which grows more and more hostile.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Superb Mature Examination Of Adult Relationships Starring A Sublime Glenda Jackson
Added 10/28/2009
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" starring Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch and Murray Head was a truly groundbreaking film in so many ways when it was released in 1971. It takes a totally different slant on the examination of what relationships are between men and women than what audiences had seen before. The film was also remarkable by the intelligent way it depicted a relationship between two men as being both natural and loving at a time when gays, if they were even depicted at all on screen, were usually portrayed either as psycho's or degenerates or as effeminate objects of ridicule. The film portrays a highly sophisticated romantic triangle played out by the three main characters, a mature Jewish doctor and his younger artist partner who in turn shares his time with an older woman who works as a Employment Consutant. Three average people all with their needs, complexities and vulnerabilities beautifully played out by the three leads. The acting especially from Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch as the two people who must share the man they both love is a tour de force and both totally deserved the Academy Award nominations they received. Glenda Jackson's beautifully modulated performance only heightens the real sense of loss lovers of well acted cinema have in her having left films for a career in politics. It truly is one of her best performances right up their with her outstanding work in "Women in Love" the "Elizabeth R" mini series "A Touch of Class" and "Stevie". The films non sensational treatment of homosexuality makes it an important piece of film making that can still nevertheless be appreciated by all types of audiences, gay or straight. The film's examination of love between ordinary people with all their joys and pains gives "Sunday Bloody Sunday" an almost timeless quality relevant to any age and it's a piece of cinema that I find myself enjoying more each time I view it.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
"It Is So Seventies !"
Added 7/28/2008
I have loved this film since it was first released in Canada. I saw it at a theatre on Yonge Street in Toronto at a Saturday matinee where the kiss between the two men started a mini-riot sparked by some teen-aged boys in the audience. They were probably expecting a gangster movie !
I have over the years recommended the film, and loaned my VHS and DVD copies to people younger than myself who universally seem to have the same reaction, "It is so Seventies !" Never mind that it is one of the best acted films of its decade, and that it unflinchingly examines complex relationships with an honesty and integrity that would not be equaled for many years. (Possibly until BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.)
Essentially it is the tale of a complex triangle, one part straight, one part gay, where both relationships are going down the tubes simultaneously. The young man (Murray Head) at the center of both relationships is unaware of, or indifferent to, the hurt that he is causing his two lovers.
The acting of Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch is superb. Jackson is subtle and fascinating throughout, and Finch reaches a heartbreaking integrity in his final little speech spoken directly to the audience. Murray Head is better as the young artist who ignites the passions of the two others than he was generally given credit for. You need to see both his allure and his indifference, and he handles this tricky dichotomy very well.
Although it is very dark in mood much of the time, there are some sparks of humor, some of them provided by Bessie Love as a nosy operator at an answering service shared by the three protagonists. The children that are being babysat by Jackson and Head on the "bloody" weekend alluded to in the title, are a very smart observation of bright over-indulged children of the well educated upper-middle class. Jon Finch puts in a brief and disturbing appearance as a hustler that Finch has known sometime in his past.
I seem to remember reading that the "bar mitzvah" reception scene in the film was the most expensive food scene ever in film up to that time because they had to keep re-shooting it. It too provides some humor when Finch is sat down next to a recently divorced woman by his well intentioned and unaware family.
The gorgeous terzetto from Mozart's opera COSI FAN TUTTE that provides the frequently repeated "theme" for the film is an ideal choice. An operatic scene with a gorgeous melody which is about benevolent farewells
provides a moving sonic envelope for some of the most moving moments.
Is the film 'too seventies !' I think not. That the seventies were a time of overly casual sexual relationships is a media commonplace that doesn't really hold up to close scrutiny. There is nothing casual about the relationships ending in this film. At least two of the protagonists will be affected by their breakups for the rest of their lives.
3 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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