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

551

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Photos8

User reviews14

6.3551

Featured reviews

6trimmerb1234

Pregnant after a night of passionlessness

Not sure I find Sandy Dennis very credible, it's a mannered performance, at times impassive and disengaged, at times the opposite - for no discernible reason other than perhaps to maintain her familiar unfathomable screen personna.

Clearly written by a woman, judged by the savage portrayal of the sadistic hospital matron who needlessly blocks the young mother from even glimpsing her recovering infant under the pretence of efficiency and rules, in contrast to the kind (male) consultant who is only too happy to allow this.

Ian McKellan plays a pleasant young man who one would assume seduces the Dennis character only that she seems neither stirred nor shaken by his advances. Nevertheless clearly we gather from her change of costume into something more comfortable and it being morning, that intimacy has taken place. Somehow this significant event has, while changing her state irrevocably, left her manner as neutral and unchanged as if it never happened. And, oddly, the film ended suddenly leaving me feeling exactly the same - as if nothing of interest or significance had happened.

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.

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 ****

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.

6boblipton

Miss Dennis Makes This Watchable

Sandy Dennis is working on her doctoral thesis at the British Museum. All the young men fancy her, and she seems to be moderately active, but disengaged. She falls pregnant by -- seemingly -- Ian McKellan in his first screen role. She decides to keep the baby as a single mother.

There are several questions. Why, despite her indifference, does she keep the baby? Will she ever finish her thesis, and what it is about? These questions are never answered, so clearly they are not important. What is important to this movie is making sure the Post Office Tower (now the BT Tower) is in seemingly every outdoor shot in case the IRA wants to bomb it, and the poor attitudes of nurses in the National Health Service. They are far more interested in sitting and gossiping than tending to a moaning woman, when Miss Dennis is in the wrong hospital room, they blame her and not the nurse who put her there, and when she wants to see her baby after surgery, they can't be bothered.

It would be a dull movie of petty bureaucracy were it not for Miss Duncan's constant reactions to everything. Usually it's an attitude of annoyance. Occasionally it's deliberately choosing to scream until people do what she wants. Sometimes I wonder if that's the only way to get anything done.

Storyline

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Did you know

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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.