Bloody Sunday

source: Bloody Sunday

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Once-daring British melodrama has young man (Murray Head) dividing his time and affections between a gay doctor (Peter Finch) and a haughty female executive (Glenda Jackson). There is one man-to-man smooch...so much for all the controversy. Director John Schlesinger seems far more interested in the work-a-day rut of the characters than the human drama at hand. In fact, there are so many segues to the British switchboard, the viewer might happen upon the picture thinking it to be a commercial for the overseas telephone system! Brackish color, dull locales, lugubrious ambiance, however some solid work from the reliable Peter Finch almost makes it worth-seeing. *1/2 from ****

I recently saw Sunday, Bloody Sunday and thought it was brilliant. I was suprised it came out in 1971, it is definitely ahead of its time. The highlight of the movie is Peter Finch's role - it took guts to take a role like this back then. I'm glad he eventually went on to win the oscar for Network.

When I saw this film in 1971, I was too young to understand the basic human compassion that Schlesinger and Gilliat were examining when they collaborated on the film. Having just watched the DVD again, I am truly stunned at how relevant the film has remained. I have never seen anything like it: Glenda Jackson struggles with her own fears of selfishly needing Murray Head; Peter Finch struggles with trying NOT to need/have expectations of him, all the while forgiving Murray Head for never being able to be needed or to meet his expectations. It is the most adult love story I know.

Alex Greville (Glenda Jackson) is a London divorced working mom who is having an affair with modern sculptor Bob Elkin (Murray Head). Daniel Hirsh (Peter Finch) is a traditional Jewish doctor who is suffering from mysterious pains and is also having an affair with Elkin. Both know about the other relationship as well as having mutual friends. Both are willing to live with the situation but it can't really last. For all the affairs going on, this movie is very cold. All three people are a little emotionally dead inside. It's not a fun movie. It does not make this a compelling watch. Their relationships are like slow sleepwalking in sadness. The constant emotional self-destruction grounded me down.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday", which tells the story of two older adults (Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch) who are discreetly in an parallel relationship with a young, irresponsible artist (Murray Head), has never appeared on free television (i.e.: U.S. network and syndicated television). Unlike John Schlesinger's previous movie of two years earlier, the Oscar-winning "Midnight Cowboy", I have never seen this movie in a sanitized, edited version and I'm very glad of that. Former New Yorker movie critic Penelope Gilliatt wrote a brilliant character study. In a very quiet, non-judgmental and unassuming way, I wonder if the story is a bit of an autobiography in the life of openly gay director John Schlesinger? Very adult, thought-provoking and extremely well-acted, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was made in 1971 and despite some dated 70s trappings, is still way ahead of most movies that deal with the subjects of sexuality and adult relationships.

After reading about John Schlesinger's death I felt the need to revisit some of his considerable opus. I couldn't decide where to start, Billy Liar, Darling, Far From The Madding Crowd or Sunday Bloody Sunday. If a film could really penetrate the brain of a character, Sunday Bloody Sunday, showed it to me. I saw into Peter Finch's soul to such degree I was kind of embarrassed and compelled at the same time. Murray Head, personifies what Finch's character longs for and is kind of horrified by. Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch play the imperfect angles of this painfully human triangle. The charming shallowness of Murray Head's character made me understand the complexity of knowing and accepting all of our darkest contradictions. John Schlesinger was a great artist.