A Touch of Love

1969
M
1h 47m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A young London woman, studying for her doctorate in the British Museum, spends her nights trying to avoid the sexual admiration of men in her life.A young London woman, studying for her doctorate in the British Museum, spends her nights trying to avoid the sexual admiration of men in her life.A young London woman, studying for her doctorate in the British Museum, spends her nights trying to avoid the sexual admiration of men in her life.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

550

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Photos8

User reviews14

6.3550

Featured reviews

7twokeets

Early Look at Some Cool Actors

I enjoyed this film. It was a slice of its time-late 60's London. I especially enjoyed seeing early performances by some very cool actors-Sandy Dennis, Eleanor Bron and Ian McKellan. Ian played a sort of lothario which was fun to see. My only doubt is about Sandy Dennis as the lead. I wonder if she was miscast. I love her, she is a favorite of mine, but I'm not sure if I accept her as a British girl. But it's a treat to see her at this young age. She plays a character that is strong willed and apparently doesn't care what society expects of her. This movie has an arty, literary quality to it which I always like. Eleanor Bron is fabulous as always. Not a film for most people, probably, but that's what makes it interesting.

9alofsky

Excellent Moody Melodrama Captures the Period

I wish this were on DVD. I know it is an esoteric film but it is a little gem starring Sandy Dennis when she was at her peak popularity.

Despite the commentary on the miserable part of living in England, London is beautifully photographed and is almost its own character in the film.

Also a great history lesson for young women on how oppressive sexual mores(more-ays) once were before Blondie, Britney and Madonna.

Young Ian McKellen is in this for all fans of the awful Lord of the Rings Trilogy. For those who want a juxtaposition of what films once were, just watch these two McKellen films that bookend his career.

This is a great film to watch on a rainy afternoon.

6Leofwine_draca

Compelling work of social drama

A TOUCH OF LOVE is a film adaptation of a famous feminist novel of the 1960s by Margaret Drabble entitled THE MILLSTONE. It's a work of social realism that looks at the plight of a young girl who finds herself pregnant with no father in sight, and the trials and tribulations she faces over what do with the unborn baby. A film which rides the trend for gritty kitchen sink dramas without ever sugar coating the story. What's surprising is that this was put out by the Amicus film studio, who were best known as Hammer's main British rival and who put out horror anthology after horror anthology during the era. A TOUCH OF LOVE is completely atypical for them, and yet as a film it retains a certain quality that gives it the edge over rival fare.

American actress Sandy Dennis is an excellent choice for the lead role and totally convinces as the young and naive British girl. Compare her performance with, say, Renee Zellweger in BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY. I know the films are from two entirely different genres, but Zellweger's acting is full of exaggerated mannerisms and a put-on persona, where Dennis is all real, all out in the open, and thoroughly sympathetic as a result. Ian McKellen has a warm role as her friend and the supporting cast is generally fine. Watching as a viewer in the 21st century, I was occasionally flabbergasted at the depiction of the sexist and inhumane attitude of NHS workers during the era; a young Penelope Keith is one of the nurses.

7richardchatten

Fascinatingly Dated

The crying baby with the bright red face Sandy Dennis has thrust into her hands in a hospital waiting room would now be in her fifties (assuming it was a girl).

For someone who regards a film made in 1970 as recent, it's sobering to realise that over half a century now separates us from this attempt by sixties schlockmeisters Max J. Rosenberg & Milton Subotsky to go legit by filming Margaret Drabble's 1964 novel 'The Millstone' in a fashion reminiscent of 'The L-Shaped Room'. More decades now separate us from this film than from this film and the silent era; a time when telephones had rotary dials, the Post Office Tower featured prominently in the background during the street scenes so we knew it was London, Sandy Dennis was a bankable Hollywood star, and Penelope Keith as a nurse and Ian McKellan in his film debut look young and fresh-faced (the latter playing a gay man long before he came out in reality. "I keep it secret not because it's wicked but because it's so dull!").

And the stylistic tic indulged in by first-time big screen director Warris Hussein is pans and zooms rather than pans and steadicam, as it would be today.

3moonspinner55

Depressing drama

British-made feature involving a pregnant and unmarried woman making life choices. The combined talents of director Waris Hussein, usually a very fine, quirky filmmaker, and Sandy Dennis in the lead should have resulted in something more touching than this. The lead character is in such a passive fog that she becomes vacuous. Dennis uses a subtle local accent but spends most of her time on screen fiddling with her lifeless hair. She was obviously trying to stretch her abilities passed her kooky screen persona, but a somnambulant Sandy doesn't do her--or us--any favors. The film isn't incompetent, but it's washed-out, dishwasher-dull. Also known as "Thank You All Very Much". *1/2 from ****

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Trivia
Margaret Drabble's original novel was titled "The Millstone", an ironic reference to the baby the unmarried heroine finds she's expecting, while trying to complete her doctorate. This was the working title for this movie, but it was deemed unsuitable and not commercial. In the U.S., this movie was released as "Thank You All Very Much", the sarcastic remark the heroine makes to a group of student doctors after they have studied her case at length, without ever speaking to her, nor making any acknowledgment of her as a person.

Goofs
At 6:41 minutes, Rosamund takes off her blue blouse. She then walks to the bath and she has her blouse on again.

Quotes
Lydia Reynolds: But you ought to tell somebody, Ros. Somebody ought to help you out. What about your sister?
Rosamund Stacey: My sister's got three of her own.
Lydia Reynolds: Then get your mother home.
Rosamund Stacey: Lord, Lydi', the last thing on Earth I want is my mother home.
Lydia Reynolds: It's none of my business but what about this man, whoever he is?
Rosamund Stacey: Look, Lydia, you don't know him, he doesn't know it's happened and I'm not going to tell him so let's forget about him shall we?
Lydia Reynolds: Sorry. Do you love him, whoever he is?
Rosamund Stacey: Love him? I hardly know him.
Lydia Reynolds: [finding what she was looking for] I don't know, this place is so chaotic.
Lydia Reynolds: You know, I was pregnant once. Of course, I was determined not to have it. So I got this man to give me the name of one of those really expensive chaps who do it legally on psychological grounds. You know, private nursing home and all that lark. So I made an appointment. And off I went to convince this man that if I had this baby I was going to be a complete mental and physical wreck. He seemed quite moved actually; very sympathetic. I thought I was well away. And then, he said he was awfully sorry but he couldn't possible recommend termination of pregnancy in my case. And do you know why? Because I was too nutty.
Lydia Reynolds: He said I was far too sensitive and neurotic and if I had an abortion I'd just have a breakdown with guilt feeling. I tried to explain that I hadn't the least intention of having a breakdown. So he said why was I there then? He'd got me either way, you see.
Lydia Reynolds: This is the funny bit: I was in such a panic that I rushed straight across the road without looking and got knocked down by a bus. And that did the trick. The shock, I suppose. So I got carted off to hospital, all innocently bleeding, and all for free.
Rosamund Stacey: What a stroke of luck you had then.
Lydia Reynolds: Quite one of life's little ironies.