Sunday Bloody Sunday (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) is a British film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Murray Head, Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch. It tells the story of a free-spirited young bisexual artist (played by Head) and his simultaneous relationships with a female recruitment consultant (Jackson) and a male Jewish doctor (Finch).
The film is significant for its time in that Finch's character is depicted as successful and relatively well-adjusted, and not particularly upset by his sexuality. In this sense, Sunday Bloody Sunday was a considerable departure from Schlesinger's previous film Midnight Cowboy, which had portrayed homosexuals as alienated and self-loathing.
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Plot
Set in London, the film tells the story of a middle-aged gay Jewish doctor, Daniel Hirsh (Peter Finch), and a divorced woman in her mid-30s, Alex Greville (Glenda Jackson), who are both involved in an open love triangle with sculptor Bob Elkin (Murray Head), a younger man in his mid-20s. Not only are Daniel and Alex each aware that Bob 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 Bob, who switches freely between them. Bob has his own coterie of artist friends who support his work, which consists of glass fountains.
Alex and Daniel are both close friends with the Hodsons, who are a bohemian, academic middle-class family living somewhere in a leafy London suburb. They alternate having Sunday dinner with the Hodsons, who are quite aware of their relationships but do not talk about them, though the Hodson children are inclined to snicker. Alex also has a depressed client who has recently lost his job to age discrimination. They sleep together at Alex's flat, and then Bob announces his arrival, forcing them to pretend to be having a casual drink. Bob tells Alex that he has no problem with her sleeping with other men. They are, in his words, "free".
There are minor crises in the narrative. The Hodsons' family dog is run over by a truck which narrowly misses eldest daughter Lucy. Daniel has to deal with a former lover (Jon Finch) who is a heroin addict. After unsuccessfully trying to fill a heroin prescription for him at a pharmacy, being unable to prove he is a doctor, Daniel finds that his medical bag has been stolen from his car.
For Alex, the relationship is bound up with growing disillusion about her professional life, failed marriage and uneasy childhood. For Daniel, it represents an escape from the repressed nature of his Jewish upbringing. Both realise the lack of permanence about the situation. When Bob decides to leave the country to settle in New York, after receiving an offer to open his own art gallery, they both come face to face for the first time in the narrative. Despite their opposed circumstances, Daniel and Alex come to realise that it is time to move on; Bob leaves for the United States.
The film ends with an unconventional speech from Daniel directly to the audience. He muses on his relationship with Bob, his friends' concern for his happiness, and declares "I am happy, apart from missing him." His last remark is "I only came about my cough," often a punch-line to a joke about a man going to the doctor and getting unexpected news.
Cast
- Peter Finch as Dr. Daniel Hirsh
- Glenda Jackson as Alex Greville
- Murray Head as Bob Elkin
- Peggy Ashcroft as Mrs. Greville
- Tony Britton as George Harding
- Maurice Denham as Mr. Greville
- Bessie Love as Answering service lady
- Vivian Pickles as Alva Hodson
- Frank Windsor as Bill Hodson
- Thomas Baptiste as Professor Johns
- Richard Pearson as Patient
- June Brown as Woman patient
- Hannah Norbert as Daniel's mother
- Harold Goldblatt as Daniel's father
- Russell Lewis as Timothy Hodson
- Marie Burke as Aunt Astrid
- Caroline Blakiston as Rowing wife
- Peter Halliday as Rowing husband
- Jon Finch as Scotsman
- Robert Rietti as Daniel's brother
- Douglas Lambert as Man at party
- Nike Arrighi as Party guest
- Edward Evans as Husband at hospital
- Gabrielle Daye as Wife at hospital
- Esta Charkham as Barmitzvah guest
- Petra Markham (uncredited) as Designer's girlfriend
- Daniel Day-Lewis (uncredited) as Child vandal
- John Warner (uncredited) as Party guest
- Martin Lawrence as the Rabbi
Production notes
- Alan Bates was the original choice made by John Schlesinger for the role of Daniel Hirsh, the bisexual doctor. However he was held up filming The Go-Between (1970) and was replaced first by Ian Bannen and later by Peter Finch. However, the role of Daniel was written as that of a much younger man.
- Several actresses (including Dame Edith Evans and Thora Hird) politely refused the part of Glenda Jackson's mother, Mrs. Greville, because they thought the project was too risqué. Peggy Ashcroft accepted after the director explained to her the elements of the story and she gladly signed on.
- Ian Bannen was fired from the role of Daniel Hirsh shortly after filming began. Apparently, he was so nervous about what kissing another actor onscreen might do to his career, he could not concentrate enough to even get going with the part. He later said that losing the role set back his career, and regretted it till his death.
- Actor Daniel Day-Lewis made his film debut at the age of 14 in this film as a vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as "heaven", for getting paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church.
Music
The film makes extensive use of source music including a recurring motif of the trio Soave sia il vento from Mozart's opera Così fan tutte.
Reception
The film currently holds a 91% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
This film appeared on both Roger Ebert's and Gene Siskel's Top 10 list of 1971. Listed as No. 5 and No. 6 respectively. Roger Ebert commented "The official East Coast line on John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday was that it is civilized. That judgment was enlisted to carry the critical defense of the movie; and, indeed, how can the decent critic be against a civilized movie about civilized people? My notion, all the same, is that Sunday Bloody Sunday is about people who suffer from psychic amputation, not civility, and that this film is not an affirmation but a tragedy...I think 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is a masterpiece, but I don't think it's about what everybody else seems to think it's about. This is not a movie about the loss of love, but about its absence."
Awards and nominations
Sunday Bloody Sunday was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Actor (Peter Finch), Best Actress (Glenda Jackson), Best Director (John Schlesinger), and Best Original Screenplay (Penelope Gilliatt and David Sherwin).
It won the BAFTA Award for Best Film. It also won acting honors for Finch and Jackson, as well as Best Director for Schlesinger.
