While I concur with many of the reviews posted here, there is not enough praise bestowed on the sublime Glenda Jackson, who remains the great lost actress of her generation. Though the recipient of two Oscars ("Women In Love", "A Touch of Class") and two other nominations ("Sunday.." and "Hedda"), as well as a criminal snub for the landmark "Stevie", Ms. Jackson seems to be little remembered today. It seems inconceivable now, since in the early Seventies, only Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave could be considered her equals. For me, her Alex in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" is my favorite of her rich performances. She is conflicted with her obviously unsatisfying affair with her bisexual (and, more importantly, shallow) lover, unfulfilled at her job, and basically adrift, just marking time in her life. The simple, yet powerfully suggestive emotions Jackson offers do much to help us identify strongly with her character. Who hasn't felt that, at times, their life is merely counting days, waiting for weekends which ironically do little to feed our spiritual or emotional needs? And the pattern continues, which to me is what the somewhat cryptic title implies. So much pressure is put on "the weekends" to make us happy that we can easily just wish our lives away, as Alex seems to. Its hard to find the final straw which Alex finds to salvage her life and begin again without this crippling relationship, but Jackson's brilliantly layered performance is a wonder throughout. Mr. Finch received many plaudits and is very respectable, but seems to be playing it safe here. His Dr. Hirsch is supposed to be the emotional, reasonable center of the movie, but Finch is a bit too reserved; the events don't seem to really happen to him at all. He stands curiously to the side, which may have been the author/director/actor's intent, but we don't have enough of the character's back-life for this to register. Murray Head is simply a cipher, which is all that is required, but a pleasant one. And any chance to see the divine Peggy Ashcroft and Bessie Love again is welcome. When this movie first came out, it had that wonderful aura that many of the pictures of that era did: the essence of the forbidden--the promise that new and undiscovered worlds and situations would be examined that had never been dealt with in film before. I remember the same feeling accompanying "Cries and Whispers", "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", and "Women in Love", movies which have stood the test of time. "Sunday, Bloody Sunday", though not without its flaws, has also held up. Its a perfect time capsule of a certain period of time and change for working-class Londoners still woozy from the Sixties and not anywhere near ready for what would be the Eighties. Its also a remarkable document of a brilliant actress at the height of her estimable powers. Highly recommended.
I understood how my black students felt when they saw SOUNDER for the first time when I saw this movie on its release in 197l. "At last here is a decent movie about us." Not only was the movie about bisexual and gay relationships, but the characters were richly and complexly developed. In a word, believable. The plot is rather straight-forward-the screen play is by Penelope Gilliatt--Alex played by Glenda Jackson is having an affair with Bob who is played by Murray Head who is having an affair also with Dr. Daniel Hirsch played by Peter Finch. Rod Steiger may have preempted Peter Finch and Murray Head with a kiss on the lips between males in THE SERGEANT, but the kiss between Finch and Head here was certainly well ahead of its time.
The movie is visually very beautiful and well put together. The film opens with a closeup of the hands of Dr. Finch who is examining an older male patient. We see similar scenes throughout the movie of closeups of both Jackson's hands as she makes love to Head and Finch's hands as well. Much is made of answering services and phone messages since Alex and Dr. Hirsch have to share Bob and often have to be satisfied with phone messages rather than him in the flesh. (We can all be thankful this movie was made years before the advent of mobile phones.)
I had never heard before the otherwordly trio from Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE, this beautiful aria that soars throughout the movie in the way much of Mozart does: just below the surface of joy there is the pain of human suffering, so appropriate for these two individuals who have to share someone they love with someone else.
In 197l Schlesinger was so brave to make this movie, which holds up well after 30 years. His honesty and courage to speak the truth have meant so much to so many. At the end of SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY as Peter Finch muses over his less than satisfactory relationship with his friend and discusses whether half a loaf is better than nothing, he says something to the effect that "I miss him." Those of us who loved Schlesinger who just died on this day can say in all sincerity, we will miss this great artist.
Buy Sunday Bloody Sunday (The Criterion Collection) (1971) Now
This tale of an unconventional love triangle looks better and better three decades after its release. John Schlesinger's filming of Penelope Gilliatt's screenplay preserves the brilliant performances of Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson, as a man and a woman reluctantly sharing the affections of a another, younger man, Murray Head (whatever happened to him?). What continues to surprise and delight is, most of all, the quiet acknowledgment that different kinds of love can co-exist, each having its own validity, without angst, guilt or retribution. If anything, general cinema has moved backwards since this film in terms of portraying homosexuality and bisexuality in a mature, non-exploitive manner. Ultimately, it's the acting of Finch and Jackson that makes this film, making one regret more than ever their respective death and retirement--in particular, Finch's moving closing speech, made directly to the camera, remains a masterpiece of understated delivery.Read Best Reviews of Sunday Bloody Sunday (The Criterion Collection) (1971) Here
This is an excellent film about realistic adult relationships and the compromises we have to make to make relationships work. When the film was released in 1971 however the homosexuality certainly could overshadow the underlying complex but brutally honest story.I think the best way to review the film is to concentrate on the 3 main characters, all played so very well by a super cast.
Alex, played by Glenda Jackson, is a business woman in her 40's having an affair with a bisexual artist, Bob, who is in his late 20's or early 30's. Bob leaves her at the first hint of conflict or trouble or confrontation to join his Jewish physician lover, Daniel, played by Peter Finch. Daniel asks for relatively little and offers an oasis of thought and tenderness for Bob.
This seems to torture Alex so much that she can't stop from allowing her feelings of rejection and fear of abandonment from driving Bob off the next time they meet. Most telling is her conversation with her mother where she challenges her mother and father's relationship. The father is a cold multi-millionaire that long ago ceased to be involved in a passionate relationship with his wife. Alex's mother confronts her back that she expects to have "it all' in a relationship and defends her marriage with 'you don't think it is anything but you are wrong." Alex is extremely bright and verbal but in many ways a spoiled woman. Yet to be fair, how many people can share a lover? It is possibly one of the most difficult tasks in the world for most and can be so traumatic that the constant worry destroys the relationship.
Bob, the bi-sexual artists, does not have to commit to either Alex or Daniel or to anyone. He is handsome, young, talented, intelligent, and articulate. He is ambitious and sees clearly what he gets from both relationships. He doesn't have to commit so he doesn't. Both lovers, Alex and Daniel, indulge him and adore him. From his perspective he realizes he does not have to choose between them and he enjoys various aspect of both of the relationships. Why should he make a choice? Does he stop seeing Daniel so that Alex will stop obsessing and fretting? I sympathized with Bob. He was indulged and pampered and knew it.
Daniel, the Jewish physician, was superbly played by Peter Finch. This portrayal of a man living multiple identities was extra special. Daniel is the talented and dedicated physican who takes calls from patients night and day. He is wise and learned and compassionate. He listens to opera in a sophisticated garden home serene and reflective. Yet he is fully engaged in the Jewish community in which he was reared. The scenes of his nephew's Bra Mitzvah convey his strong heritage and roots to the Jewish community. Daniel, more so that with Alex or Bob, conveys the concept of living different identities. Daniel recognizes he is part of the Jewish community, part of the medical community and the patients they see, and part of a same-gender loving community which exists more behind doors that in the open in 1971. Whereas Alex remains tortured most of the film, Daniel ends the film with a speech directly to the camera about the limitations of all relationships,the compromises we have to make in all relationships, and the responsibility to extract from each human experience as much joy and meaning as is possible.
We have a choice in life, we can accept or reject compromise. Both paths have rewards and hardships. This is really the theme of the film.
After 34 years, this film has retained its power, since its power resides in depiction of honest lives and honest situations.
Want Sunday Bloody Sunday (The Criterion Collection) (1971) Discount?
This civilized movie, of autumnal sadness, is such an actors' film.Especially when those actors are Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson.
It is a pleasure to watch them at their craft. John Schlesinger has
directed Penelope Gilliatt's script with an eye for rich detail, and
such seemingly minimal emotions of the leads that comes through
the performances so perfectly, as delicately formed and precise as
snowflakes. They feel deeply, do Daniel (Finch) and Alex
(Jackson). Though they must not let on. It would be bad form to.
That they both love Bob (Murray Head) seems a conundrum. But
Daniel and Alex are of an age when there might be no one else,
save Bob, who is one of those curious, mercurial people who can
go from person to person, without caring one bit, beginning,
during, after. He literally feels nothing, save the rudimentary ( the
word is full of them) but he is perhaps seen by Daniel and Alex as
what they want him to be. Such is love. They recreate him from his
vagueness. And of course they must not be jealous of Bob's other
lovers. Such as Bob always require that, and consider otherwise to
be so bloody selfish.
He doesn't intentionally hurt anyone. He uses people as things, so,
to him, they are replaceable. When he is the replaceable one, if only
they could see it. He is not worth their integrity, and intelligence
and complexity of heart. Yet, when one loves, one cannot think of
him or her without making them, perhaps, mythic. To someone
else, they would be just another person, for others see them as
ordinary. This, the film explores with such finesse and grace.
Daniel has a monologue, told to us personally, the words of which
are beautiful and touching, that just about rips your heart out. Finch
adds to the words, so seemingly somewhat matter of factly saying
them, ( a person has to comport themselves properly after all)
though from deep inside, with such thought and honesty, and
searching still in these later years, and with no apology. You see the
worth and goodness of the man most especially then. You want to
put your arms around Daniel and Alex and hug them, for their love
is doomed, as they know too well. They are having to deal with the
loss, the void, to reconcile themselves to it, even during Bob, and
learning how to get through the day, routinely, like everyone else
pretends to.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a film that one feels honored to see. Its
ad line-"This is a story about three decent people. They will break
your heart." Indeed.
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