The Go-Between

I recently watched this film after having seen it as a teenager. Both experiences touched me but in significantly different ways. Not unlike the storyline in the film ironically.

The film is beautifully crafted and almost perfect in every way. All the actors are brilliantly cast and do a great job at hiding only slightly their true emotions and motivations. Those who know and love The Age of Innocence will appreciate the way the story unfolds.

At its core is the story of how class norms and rigid rules of behavior affect an innocent young boy, at what surely is his most vulnerable time of his life.

Some may find the pace slow. I did when I first saw it as a teenager. Please give this film time to develop. Resist those swift "5 minutes and I am out" rules so many millennials tend to apply today. Resist please. And above all, give your full attention to this small masterpiece. Watch for the small changes in tone and body language these great actors provide us.

Then, when young viewers are a little older and life has provided them a few joys and pains, please revisit this film as I did. I sense your emotions may bathe over you as mine did recently.

Enjoy this film.

There is always at least one reason for wanting to see any film and 'The Go Between' had plenty. Harold Pinter to me was one of the greatest playwrights/writers of the twentieth century, his prose is so insightful, very intelligent, not heavy-handed and sharp even if his screenplays may be too talky for some. Have had a high appreciation for Joseph Losey ever since first seeing his 'Don Giovanni' (one of the best opera films ever made) over a decade ago. Love the cast too.

1971's 'The Go Between' on the whole didn't disappoint. Like their previous collaborations, it is very good if not flawless. Even if it is again very polarising, can totally understand why it may not connect with some but personally do understand the positive reception more. If you like fast and furious pacing, prefer rootable characters and are not a fan of sparse dialogue and a lot of pauses, it's perhaps best looking elsewhere. If you are fine with deliberately paced films and like films that disturb and move through atmosphere, 'The Go Between' is likely to appeal. It is hard to say which is the best between this, 'The Servant' and 'Accident', as someone who thinks they're equally very good in their own way.

By all means, 'The Go Between' isn't perfect. Personally did find the score ill fitting tonally, too much like Gothic spy thriller from the 70s whereas a more elegiac, quieter period music approach would have been more suitable. And it could have been used a little less too.

Do agree with those that say that there are some muddled time shifts where the film jumps about a little structurally. The first 20 minutes or so drag a little too much.

However, all that is overshadowed by the huge amount that 'The Go Between'. It is gorgeously filmed and the Norfolk locations are stunning too. Losey's direction is very atmospheric and accomplished, and Pinter's dialogue is unmistakable Pinter, not wordy or constant but very poetic and thought provoking. The story is deliberate, over deliberate to start with, and also tense and moving with its portrayal of the class system and divide being biting and insightful in how regressive and manipulative it was in the time period depicted in the classic source material.

Can't fault the acting, Dominic Guard's performance has garnered a very polarised response, to me he was fine. Julie Christie and Alan Bates smoulder beautifully in their roles, though Bates' character is underdeveloped due to the amount left out, with a chemistry that makes one believe in the romance. Margaret Leighton is also very powerful and commands every second of her screen time.

In summary, very good if not without flaws. 8/10.

It's turn of the century in the English country. Young Leo Colston is spending the summer with his rich school friend Marcus Maudsley's family estate. He is taken with Marcus' older sister Marian Maudsley (Julie Christie). He encounters tenant farmer Ted Burgess (Alan Bates) who recruits him to deliver love letters between Ted and Marian.

Harold Pinter adapted the screenplay from a novel. It's a rather leisurely stroll through the country especially in the beginning. The plot is not that complicated. The tension is not raised until the introduction of Burgess. There is always a sense of danger beneath the generally loving character. This inherent instability within him is the most compelling part of the movie. Marian has one great scene. It's a two hours costumed romance. It's a bit slow with moments of great intensity.

I agree with the previous reviewer that the time-shifts seem unnecessary and serve only to complicate the film. There's also an unlikely implication that the events of the Norfolk summer which Leo experienced 40 years ago were so traumatic that he had become psychologically incapable of getting married.

But for me, although there's not much that happens in the plot, this film is heavy with nostalgia. It was the first school film I saw on arriving at a Northamptonshire boarding school. Like Leo, I was 13 and didn't understand everything that was going on.

Would I recommend it to today's youth? Well yes, but I wouldn't expect a large proportion of them to sit the entire way through it. It just doesn't have anything like the pace of today's blockbusters or teen movies. The enjoyment of this film is now largely an intellectual one -- it's about the laughable views of the upper class, and about book-to-film transfers.

Incidentally, to my knowledge, this film has never been available for sale on DVD. And yet in March 2006, it was given away as a freebie DVD with the UK's Sunday Telegraph. The film industry is seriously undervaluing its back-catalogue. Who knows what next -- Lindsay Anderson's brilliant 'IF' in a packet of cereal??

The period piece films of Ivory-Merchant have nothing on Joseph Losey's The Go Between. In fact I'm sure that James Ivory and Ismail Merchant more than likely modeled their own films on the ambience of Victorian England that Losey gave to this fine production.

Young Domenic Guard is invited to spend his summer with his school chum Richard Gibson's family in their country home. The Maudsleys live in grand style and Gibson's parents are Michael Gough and Margaret Leighton. When Gibson comes down with the measles, the hospitality slack is taken up with his older sister Julie Christie. She's engaged to Edward Fox cricketeer and Boer War hero. They all make Guard feel quite welcome and he has the run of the place.

The Go Between is set in those more strict and innocent times and it could never work today. But given the lavishness of the sets and costumes you really do feel you're back in the post Boer War days of Queen Victoria. And a young kid like Guard's character at thirteen could really be as innocent as he is. But he is approaching puberty and he's got lots of questions.

On a family outing he and the rest meet up with farm hand Alan Bates, a rough type. Pretty soon for his new friend Christie young Guard finds himself taking messages back and forth to Bates from Christie and vice versa.

She may be marrying Fox, but it's Bates that gets her mojo working. Back in those days only Viennese like Sigmund Freud and his colleagues were discussing things like that. Losey with scriptwriter Harold Pinter nailed those Victorian attitudes down quite well.

I can't believe that The Go Between got no Oscar recognition in either the set or costume design categories. Margaret Leighton did receive an Oscar nomination for her role in the Supporting Actress category. Her scene with young Domenic Guard as she suspects what's going on with her daughter is well played by both.

The Go Between is a great expose of Victorian manners and morals and a sumptious piece of film making.