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The attempt to make a movie of this subtlety in the United States of the late 1980s was extraordinary, and the measure of how simply yet successfully it was done equally so. The result is moving and exemplary, and especially so for screenwriters, for it shows how much can be done at little cost if a company of filmmakers commit themselves to focusing upon people rather than hype. Readers of this comment needn't read further, for it ends here. However, the 'guidelines' for posting require me to 'hype' its length to ten lines - so I am obliged to repeat: RACHEL RIVER is moving and exemplary, and especially so for screenwriters, for it shows how much can be done at little cost if a company of filmmakers commit themselves to focusing upon people rather than hype.

Few screenwriters have ever jumped the gap that Jhabvala traversed between THE EUROPEANS (1979) and QUARTET (1981). I know of no other film that captures as well the sense of European pre-WW2 'decadence' (compare CABARET for an object lesson in failure!), or that is directed and photographed with stronger integration of the settings, colours, sounds and behavior within the story being told. A remarkable achievement - the film that put filmmakers on notice about how well the remarkable Jhabvala/Ivory/Merchant trio present stories locked into their space and time.

For filmmakers, this modest documentary should be an object lesson in how to think of using sounds when looking at things by means of film. Seldom if ever have sounds been associated as precisely with visuals of which they are not 'effects', whether natural or musical. Some combinations work better than others, but the overall achievement is staggering - and exemplifies what can powerfully be done by thoughtful and committed filmmakers for those of us whose attention spans, and ability to ponder, pass beyond seconds.