Sebastian

At first encounter this would seem as a rather flimsy concoction of muddled espionage pastiche with Dirk Bogarde as a decoding expert surrounded by a league of only very pretty girls - and there are lots of them. One of them is more obtrusive than the others, Susannah York, who importunes on his private life to become his mistress - with complications. The film really becomes interesting, however, when he loses his job, and there the action starts with increasing thickening of the plot, as the espionage business moves into higher gear.

Everything is brilliant in this film, however limited it is to its times of the late 60s which makes it very outdated today, but the acting couldn't be better, by Dirk of course, always intelligent and interesting, Susannah York at her best, John Gielgud and Nigel Davenport in smaller but not less important parts, Lilli Palmer as the most experienced of them all and something of an odd key player, and even Donald Sutherland in one vital scene. Jerry Goldsmith is the name of the music vying with Johann Sebastian Bach as Dirk's only actual relief from his troubles, while it all ends with an odd twist, which neither Dirk, Susannah York nor the audience would have expected. It's not altogether a comedy, no thriller, although better than any later James Bond, no real spy thriller, but something of it all in brilliant combination.

Dirk Bogarde is at his most suave and the swinging London sixties is most convincingly presented in this extremely stylish, sophisticated romp that was slyly coy at the time, and simply fab when viewed today. Jerry Goldsmith provides noticeable musical accompaniment. Hip.

I am sure that my summary above is confusing and I'll need to decode what I am talking about here. If you are looking for a quintessential 1970s film that is completely soaked in what the 70s looked like and sounded like, it's hard to find that better represents it than "Saturday Night Fever". And, when it comes to the 60s, I think "Sebastian" is THE quintessential film of that decade as well-- beginning with the weird opening credits and continuing throughout. Whatever you think of these sorts of films, they are all style, music, glitz, attitude, morals and pizazz--like films created less by scriptwriters and more by fashion designers and pop artists. This isn't at all a complaint--just an observation about style. In "Sebastian", you get all of what made the late 60s so goofy--the clothing, the colors, the sounds, the editing...everything. I think the film looks like a joint project by Peter Max and Twiggy!

Sebastian (Dirk Bogarde) is a mathematical genius. He spends the beginning of the film recruiting more ladies to join his giant government think tank--ladies who can think outside the box and have quick minds. Throughout this process and once they begin their jobs, it soon becomes obvious that Sebastian just ain't normal--he lacks many social skills and is a very independent thinker. This ends up causing problems with the government, as he resists their attempts to control his department and rid it of 'undesirables'. Oddly, however, a new woman to the department, Rebecca (Susanna York) is intrigued by Sebastian and decides very quickly she wants to seduce him--even though his personality is seriously quirky and flawed to say the lest (he shows some signs of Asperger's). The film is about this affair as well as Sebastian's frustrations dealing with folks outside his department who are meddlers...and along the way is another plot, more sinister, involving an old mistress.

So is all this any good? Well, I'd say that the setup for the story is quite good and very intriguing. However, over time the film seemed to lose momentum. Part of it was because occasionally the film showed a bit of a misogyny--such as when Sebastian slapped his new girlfriend across the face. Overall, it's not a bad film but promised to be so much more at the start.

A rather inconsequential film with some rather now dated cinematic ideas is saved by the top line of British acting talent. You can't argue with the cast which includes Dirk Bogarde, Susannah York, Nigel Davenport and John Gieldgud in main roles. 'Sebastian' is also blessed with such an array of acting quality there's no wonder a lot of people really rate the film. The character players include a young Donald Sutherland, the always magnetic and taken from us too soon Janet Munroe (See The Day The Earth Caught Fire), the underrated Ann Beach, and the totally spiffing Ronald Fraser (if you know nothing else by this latter two then try to them together in the excellent Armchair Theatre TV presentation 'A Bit Of A Lift').

For these and other brilliant screen stars to be attracted to this film must mean that there was something in the script that I missed or was missed by the director, or I suppose arguably I just came upon in after it's view by date.

I found the film dated (although I do like British films from the 1960s) and lacking in any real story. I think Bogarde was wrong to say he was not right for the part, he performs well enough but I think a writer such as Le Carre would have fleshed out and nuanced the character and the film as a whole better. My view is that it falls between too many stools not knowing whether it wants to be a hip and happening psychedelic 60s movie, a tale of espionage, a romantic story involving the breaking down of walls, or a comedy farce much beloved of the time.

Despite all these factors I would still recommend a night in with the film if for nothing else than to see brilliant actors tackling greater or lesser roles.

This is a good film to watch if you like British films from the era and especially ones with Dirk Bogarde. It's made with some style but the script is a problem. Though it starts out intriguingly, in the end this espionage film is rather much ado about nothing. The main point of interest in this rarely seen movie now is the equally rarely heard Jerry Goldsmith score, which I rather like. I believe it got an LP release back in 1968, but has never been issued on CD. Perhaps one of the reasons for that, as I've recently read, is that Goldsmith didn't have a good experience doing the score and never had much to say about it or simply didn't want to discuss it at all. Unfortunate, because the score, though minor Goldsmith, does have merit. I hope someday to read just what Goldsmith's problems were with it.