Darling (1965)

Julie Christie's miracle year of 1965 (she was also in Doctor Zhivago) was capped by a best-actress Oscar® for this sardonic take on Swinging London. Looking about as gorgeous as women get, Christie ascends the ladder of social success, trampling everybody in her path--an ascent that allows writer Frederic Raphael and director John Schlesinger to slash away at the morally bankrupt world that would enable such a person to triumph. Cynics might suggest that Schlesinger's approach, rife with the experiments of New Wave filmmaking, is nearly as empty and showy as the world it describes... which may be why this movie seems more dated than, say, Richard Lester's films from the '60s. Still, with Christie getting generous and suave support from two of the top British stars of the day, Dirk Bogarde and Laurence Harvey, Darling remains a watchable missive from a volatile era. --Robert Horton Amazon.com essential video

A real Princess

I missed this movie when it came out:
the resulting character is sort of a cross between Grace Kelly and Princess Diana. For men this blond bomb shell is a disaster.
She pretty much has her way with life,
and finds that what she thought she wanted wasn't exactly what she really needed?
The two male actors are great and I think better than the star Julie Christie. The screen play is right on and seems to nail
down this sort of popular woman. December 10, 2008

"It should be so easy to be happy,shouldn't it?"

"Darling" was Julie Christie's breakthrough in 1965,along with the epic "Doctor Zhivago." In "Darling", Christie is Diana Scott, a sophisticated London model. She's flighty and dreamy, always hoping for happiness and love. First, she shacks up with a married man, the suave Dirk Bogarde; later, she falls for the slimy playboy Laurence Harvey. In the meantime, she befriends a gay photographer Malcolm and becomes an Italian princess. She tries to become Catholic to please her princely husband. Alone in the palace, she goes mad. The ending is open to interpretation as an old lady sings "Santa Lucia."

"Darling" is a breakthrough film for its time. It addresses hot-button issues like abortion and homosexuality in an intelligent way (for example,a stuttering man claims that London is "rife with homosexuality",and Diana has a "miscarriage") The narrative structure is open to question. There's Diana's voice-over,providing sardonic commentary. The ending, with the singing old lady as well as magazines with Princess Diana's face on them- makes one wonder if she lived, or has become iconic with her premature death.

"Darling" is prescient, foretelling the unhappy,photogenic Princess Diana of our own time. It stands as a swingin',sardonic '60s classic. September 19, 2008

everybody's darling, at any age

it is always a pleasure to watch and to re-watch julie christie in any movie she chooses to do. watching this early film in juxtaposition with AWAY FROM HER reminds us that Cleopatra was not the only woman whose beauty can not be withered by age. when the beauty evolves from intelligence, it is always with her and with us. we all are that much richer for having been in her presence. May 24, 2008

Running on Empty in the Swingin' Sixties

"Darling", the brittle mid-1960s cult classic, was written by Frederick Raphael (he won an Oscar for the script) and directed by John Schlesinger. Like a handful of other interesting black and white films from this era written by authors like Raphael and Alan Sillitoe, "Darling" has dated somewhat, although not in a way that devalues its superb qualities. Think, for example, of "Morgan!", "Georgy Girl", and "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner". Although these are all very different films, each reflects something of Britain's mood during the early to mid-1960s as Britain questioned, particularly through the medium of theatre and film, issues of class loyalty, tradition, and values in a period of shifting social mores.

The film is most noteworthy for the excellence of the script and the performances of its two leads, Julie Christie and Dirk Bogarde. Although Christie won a Best Actress Oscar for her role, in this reviewer's opinion, Dirk Bogarde's performance is even more memorable. This is not to belittle Christie's fine work; however, Christie was the startling newcomer and naturally attracted more attention than the established Bogarde, whose work here is so good as to be "invisible". It is easy to forget what a very, very, very fine actor Bogarde was until you revisit a film like this. It is a long way from Sidney Carton in "A Tale of Two Cities" to Robert Gold in "Darling".

Christie plays Diana Scott, a beautiful but curiously blank woman who uses her looks to attach a series of increasingly prominent and wealthy men, in hopes that each successive relationship will finally help her achieve the solid identity she craves. Christie portrays Diana as an empty canvas upon which she invites her lovers to paint, as she adapts herself, chameleon-like, to each one's values and tastes. But Diana selects her lovers on the basis of their worldly assets, which cannot help her clarify her own identity, any more than those assets wholly define the identities of the men who hold them. Diana never comes to understand this, and steps Gatsby-like over one man after another, evading responsibility for the emotional chaos she creates, yet never quite finding the one relationship that will make her feel real and complete. In fact, Diana Scott rather reminds one of a later charismatic, British, blonde Diana, who also tried to anchor a narcissistic, internal vagueness through external relationships - with equally little success.

Bogarde plays Robert Gold, a TV journalist who meets the pretty housewife accidentally and gives her a start in modeling - he falls hopelessly in love with her and leaves his wife and children for her. But, as Diana's career takes off, she begins to drift toward men who she believes have more to offer her than Robert does. Robert soon grasps the empty narcissism that produces Diana's vague amorality, but cannot shake free of his feeling for her, with tragic consequences for himself. Ironically, Robert is the one man in Diana's life who loves her for "herself" - the very "self" she is seeking in other places. As Diana joins the restless 1960s jet-set, the film highlights the equally narcissistic, quickly jaded characters and tastes of its members.

Christie's look is also redolent of the era: the heavy eye-makeup, thick hair, jaunty mini-skirts, and Couregges boots, all have the peculiar effect of deadening, rather than enhancing her beauty, so perfectly iconic of the 1960s.

The black and white photography is by Ken Higgins, and the supporting cast includes the always fascinating Laurence Harvey as the cold, calculating Miles Brand, another of Diana's lovers.

This is an expertly crafted film, from script to direction to performances. To say that it is "dated" is to use the term to express only its cultural specificity. The anguish of its characters and the quality of its script ensure that its specificity does not dilute its broader relevance.

"Darling" is a fine, if sad and unsettling film, a classic of the 1960s, containing marvellous performances by now-legendary actors.

May 5, 2008

Darling

I bought this movie because I couldn't find it to rent and I wanted to see it. I was amazed at how it has stood the test of time. Besides the great performance Julie Christie gives in this movie, Dirk Bogarde and Laurence Harvey were wonderful too! I'd recommend this to anyone who wants a picture of the Swinging Sixties in London. March 9, 2008

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