malkmus13

This was made by Yorkshire TV and (as far as I know) only transmitted once, so if you get the chance to see it, you are very lucky. It is based on a short story by Graham Greene. Dirk wrote the screenplay and his nephew (Brock van de Bogaerde) was associate producer.

Dirk plays a twice-divorced writer, William Harris, living in a hotel in Nice. Also staying in the hotel, are two gay interior decorators (one of whom bears an uncanny likeness to David Hasselhoff!) and a newly-wed couple (the bride is played by Charlotte Attenborough, daughter of the famous Richard Attenborough, it was also her first acting role).

The newly-wed husband spends most of the film with the gay couple, as Dirk befriends (and also tries to seduce) the wife.

Warning! - The film contains some terrible 1980s fashion and haircuts (including a cringe-worthy gay party scene, which thankfully Dirk isn't in, and even a Grace Jones song!); incidently Dirk wore all his own clothes for the role, like in the film Daddy Nostalgia, four years later.

Dirk's performance is (as ever) excellent, he starts the film being caustic and grouchy and ends up lonely and vulnerable. There are some very touching scenes between him and the wife. Although the film suffers from the usual made-for-tv drama faults, it has a darker more insidious undertone running through it, in places it reminded me a little of Despair. Dirk was not a fan of TV at all, and this film was one of the few TV projects he appeared in.