La méprise

If you have enjoyed the original Hartley book with its subtleties and irony, then this film is going to be a big disappointment. Although the pace and direction of the screenplay are broadly the same, some of the characters are missing and others have extended roles. The revised finale completely loses the harrowing irony and pathos of the book. Ripe for a Merchant/Ivory production...

A British drama; A story about an upper-class widow suffering from depression over the loss of her husband, who develops an unusual relationship with her chauffeur. This is an adaptation of L.P. Hartley's novel. It has a measured pace and a care for the telling detail. It shows the vast barrier between social classes, suppressed sexuality, and of a casualness. One side is cold, yearning for warmth; the other, striving but painfully frustrated yet they give one another the confidence one grants a stranger. Robert Shaw is remarkable as the chauffeur, an ex-sergeant major, ramrod straight, filled with a sense of class and keeping his place. Sara Miles's aristocrat is equally well drawn as the widow, childless, on release from a sanitarium. Their scenes are marked by intriguing sequences: long, uninterrupted car rides through an overcast, rainy Somerset. The work up to the final scenes is gentle and slowly paced to maximise tension. This is a film very well directed, earning the Palme d'Or in 1973.

Another of L.P. Hartley's tales of class and sexual obsession, this one was brought to the screen in 1973 by Alan Bridges, who also made "The Shooting Party", and despite winning three BAFTAs and the Palme D'Or at Cannes has all but disappeared. Like "The Go-Between" this, too, is about a relationship that develops between a titled lady, (Sarah Miles), and a member of the working class, (Robert Shaw), but unlike "The Go-Between", this is a somewhat small-scale affair though psychologically it is just as astute.

It is set in the years after the First World War and Miles is the young widow recovering from a nervous breakdown after the death of her husband and Shaw is the man hired to drive her around and who develops an unhealthy obsession with his employer and they are both superb. The fine supporting cast includes a young Peter Egan as a smug Liberal Member of Parliament and Elizabeth Sellars as Miles' chilly mother while the screenplay by Wolf Mankowitz is typically literate. In fact, you might describe the film itself as chilly. It is certainly old-fashioned but with a degree of frankness that would have been unheard of 20 years earlier and it deserves to be seen.

Thoughtful study of the British class system, told from the perspective of one who essentially occupies its bowels, a chauffeur (Shaw) interacting with his employer (Miles), forming a close bond that threatens to transcend societal boundaries. Unfortunately for Shaw, his vulnerabilities mutate into misplaced fondness for Miles, a mentally crippled lady of standing whose only capable affections are for a recently returned war veteran (Egan).

Slow moving, talky and ultimately (in my opinion) a bit aimless - the climax is much anticipated, but the film ends quite abruptly and doesn't seem to me to do the narrative justice. Having not read the book, perhaps director Bridges was somewhat constrained by the manacles of the source material.

Performances are of the calibre that LP Hartley fans came to expect following "The Go Between" in 1971, "The Hireling" should appeal to anyone whose interested in human drama, or perhaps, who admires the work of Shaw or Miles. Both are very realistic in their extremes, and of course, poignantly, in their common frailties. More narrative structure would have suited me better, even so, it's a sophisticated drama worth a look.

After watching "The Go-Between", author L.P. Hartley cried, being so moved by the cinematic representation of his novel. Had he been alive he may well have cried after watching "The Hireling" for the way his subtle novel had been vulgarized. But Hartley had died just before "The Hireling" was made and playwright Wolf Mankovwitz felt himself free to do as he pleased with Hartley's book. That in itself seems to be an act of great disrespect and worse, his changes are greatly detrimental to the work. It calls into question just what right does one have to so radically alter a work. There is little doubt that Hartley would ever have agreed to this version.

It's a great pity. The bulk of the film is well done, both Robert Shaw and Sarah Miles delivering strong performances. Adhereing to Hartley novel the overall effect would have so much more compelling.

Not only a disappointment, but a great annoyance at the presumption of lesser artists to tamper with the work of their betters.