The Heat of the Day

The Heat of the Day (1989) is a British film where the story takes place during the World War II, partly in London and, to a lesser extent, in Ireland. The film is based on a homonymous novel, published in 1949, written by Elizabeth Bowen and its screenplay is due to Harold Pinter. The film has espionage ingredients, but not very well explained. In my view most of the actors have quite an artificial and unconvincing performance in many scenes. However, the actress Imelda Staunton, who plays a small part in the film, in her two short scenes was able to upgrade the film to a higher level and after that, the film went back to being confused and aimless. In short, it's a boring movie.

At first I thought this was a psychological thriller with plenty of mind games between the three main characters.

As it turned out it was anything but, and there was no real story at all and it became boring and tedious.

Matters were made worse by Michael York who was simply awful and Patricia Hodge was not much better.

Elizabeth Bowen was one of the UK's greatest writers and arguably ' The Heat of the Day ' is her greatest novel. To a certain extent it resists filming, because it is filled with atmosphere and ambiguity, especially concerning the Second World War in which it is set. Harold Pinter tries in his way ( and I have read his film script ) to capture the book and in my opinion does not quite succeed. He uses words sparingly, while Bowen has a very rich and highly textured style. The ' story ' comes across well, and in my opinion the richness of the book's content is partly lost. Michael Gambon acts well as Harrison, the slightly perverse investigator, but he lacks the attractive aura of sexuality that Stella, beautifully played by Patricia Hodge ( a beautiful woman and a great actor ) should be half attracted to. Michael York is good, but not quite anguished enough as Robert her ( perhaps ) German spy of a lover. Hodge raises the film to another level, way above them. The final scenes do not quite tighten the screws enough and the appalling aloneness of the trio of the main characters does not come over enough. The script is not up to the task, or how it is delivered by Gambon and York, despite the readiness of Hodge to do her best to do so. Her eyes deliver the words that are not there, and I have seen this Granada Production from 1990 many, many times to study it. As a television film it is much, much better than most and just having seen the BBC version of ' Daniel Deronda ' it is way ahead. The direction is tauter and despite its arguable flaws in casting and Pinter mannerisms almost succeeds in being a television masterpiece.

I was never impressed by Harold Pinter, and when this film turned up and I saw his name on it I was almost tempted to turn it off, but I usually see a film to the very bitter end, and at least it was worth while. The story is excellent, a widow with a relationship with Michael York working in the war office during the war is importuned by Michael Gambon as a rather rude and most disturbing elderly stranger, who suggests to Patricia that Michael York is a spy. A most intrinsic discussion about motives, truth, honesty and war morals follow, which is interesting indeed, but Harold Pinter obfuscates the intrigue into a fog of vagueness in which no one can find his way and least of all the audience, who is fooled by Pinter into a black hole of trivial beatings around the bush. Harold Pinter has the habit of compensating his lack of dramatic talent by tricking the audience into arguments of nothing by a trivial dialogue that sounds like basic language lessons. However, the actors are good, and the trick to appreciate this film is to try to find Elizabeth Bowen behind the smoke screens of Harold Pinter.

The Heat Of The Day is based on the novel by Elizabeth Bowen, set during a sweltering, stifling summer in London as World War II rages on. However, from the first scene, when Michael Gambon's enigmatic Harrison approaches Patricia Hodge's bemused Stella with an air of calculated menace, this TV film adaptation unmistakably bears the mark of Harold Pinter with its sense of growing, but suppressed, unease.

An important aspect of Pinter's film work, mirroring his work for theatre, is obsessed with the balance of power between people in relationships, particularly in inter-class relationships. Moreover, this is an understated balance of power, as communication becomes more concerned with muddying the water, thus obscuring the real situation.

In The Heat Of The Day, the common-looking, hefty Harrison quickly establishes an unlikely and unconventional relationship with the beautiful and well born Stella, a relationship with a balance of power weighed favourably towards him. This is because Harrison tells her that her high-powered lover, Robert, played by Michael York, is a spy and that he is the only one who can keep him from infamy and jail. It is clear what Harrison wants in return, but is he actually who he says he is? How does she find out while needing to stay discreet, in case Harrison is genuine and Robert really is a spy?

This is one of Pinter's better screenplays and the top-notch cast is on form. The Heat Of The Day is a low-key, subtle, contained, high-quality psychological thriller from an interesting and original feminine perspective. The fact that it was made for Independent British Television may be its problem. The film seems to have been made on a far too low budget and looks, therefore, stagy and old-fashioned, and could easily be dismissed as 1980's Sunday afternoon costume drama if it didn't have such an unquestionably subtle script and flair in its acting.