Sunday Bloody Sunday

Dir: John Schlesinger

1971

*****

John Schlesinger’s now iconic 1971 drama Sunday, Bloody Sunday is a fascinating period piece that is both dated and contemporary. Set in a time of economic chaos and dealing with a taboo which still exists today, the film explores the brutal reality of the 1960s free love ideal as the world moves into the new decade. Set in London, it tells the story of divorced workingwoman Alex Greville (Glenda Jackson) and well-to-do Jewish family doctor Daniel Hirsh (Peter Finch) who not only share the same answering service but who are also romantically and sexually involved with sculptor Bob Elkin (Murray Head), a younger man in his mid-20s. Not only are Hirsh and Greville both aware that Elkin is seeing the other but they know one another through common friends. Despite this, they are willing to put up with the situation through fear of losing Elkin, who switches freely between them. For Greville, the relationship is bound up with growing disillusion about her professional life, failed marriage and uneasy childhood. For Hirsh, it represents an escape from the repressed nature of his Jewish upbringing. Both realise the lack of permanence about the situation and when Elkin decides to leave the country to settle in New York City (after receiving an offer to open his own art gallery) they both become lost after a long time of apologetically yet furiously settling for the crumbs they can get from their cool younger lover. They meet face to face (for the first and only time in the film) and despite their opposed circumstances, Hirsh and Greville come to realize that it is time to move on as Elkin leaves. Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch both fantastic in their contrasting performances but Murray Head’s performance is much less successful. Whilst he captures Bob's egotistical nature, there's no counter-balance of charm, leaving me wondering exactly what either Alex or Daniel really saw in him. Perhaps that is the point? I can’t think of another film that tackles the theme as successfully, in fact, I can’t think of another film that tackles the theme at all – maybe no other director dare now that it has been perfected. This was a great progressive piece for John Schlesinger but a contrast from his previous work. As much as I loved his early kitchen-sink working class dramas like A Kind of Loving and the gritty fantasy Billy Liar they were always very much in the film realm. Midnight Cowboy was a glossy grand finale to the 1960s and has since become one of the most iconic films in the history of cinema – but wouldn’t know it was directed by the same person that made Sunday, Bloody Sunday. His 1971 piece felt like real life, even writing this review decades later it feels real, indeed, the only thing that dates the film are the clothes and technology. I loved the way the film did flinch regarding the infidelity and the homosexual relationship, it got on with the story and concentrated on what it was all about and that was the characters themselves. It caused a stir among many audiences that missed the point and there was, supposedly, a scream at a director's screening of the film, much to Schlesinger's consternation, during the scene where Peter Finch and Murray Head first kiss. It came from Finch’s wife. It is a remarkable and remarkably mature examination of love in all its aspects and is yet to be matched in many respects. The story is so strong you would be forgiven for forgetting just how striking the film is visually. It features some of the most memorable imagery in British cinema, from the dead dog lying in the middle of the road and the alternative – the dead girl lying in the same spot, to the scene where the five children (aged between 5-12) sit on their parents bed smoking marijuana. The supporting cast are made up of a lively group of actors who help bring the story to life no end, it is astonishing watching this film, knowing what was mainstream in England at the time. One said supporting actor was Fourteen-year-old Daniel Day-Lewis who made his screen debut in this film, as a teenage street vandal. He described his first acting experience, in which he was paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church in Petersfield, Hampshire, as "heaven." I’m still confused however, how one man can produce Billy Liar, Midnight Cowboy, Sunday, Bloody Sunday and Marathon Man – four completely different films but each one a favorite of mine. I love all his films, I’m not sure Sunday, Bloody Sunday is my favorite but I would argue that it is his most striking, most influential and most accomplished.