The Girl in a Swing

I remember the buzz about this movie when it came out. The sexuality, the ethereal, metaphysical theme. Sounds intriguing, no? Therefore I was surprised to see Maltin call it "unwatchable" and "a stinker". That was all before I watched it. Now that I have, I tend to agree with Leonard. Ebert's review is interesting because he "didn't get it" either, and seemed to say that the movie had accomplished something by puzzling him. You're too kind, Roger. This could have been a great movie. Each scene was well shot. Unfortunately, the whole was less than the sum of its parts. I was going to blame the Director but perhaps the Editor was more to blame. The faults: 1) the mystery, when revealed, didn't ring true. 2) the sex was totally un-erotic. 3) the visions were confusing and hokey. 4) [perhaps most annoying of all] All of Meg Tilly's lines were delivered in a whisper and with a horrible attempt at a german accent, 50% of her dialog was unintelligible.

Well, I liked this one a lot. To be sure, I was not shocked by the big revelation at the end, but I'm not at all sure I was supposed to be. I knew nothing of the film going in, so had no idea I was in for a bit of a ghost story. Meg Tilly was so beautiful. Easy to see why Alan Dresland (Frazer) would fall for her. I thought she utterly nailed this role. The secretiveness, the blossoming love, the creepy aura of something not quite right coming out, well, she knocked all of these out of the park. A lot has been made of her German accent in this role. It sounded fine to me. Granted, I'm a Texan, and speak no German (or Danish) at all.Yes I missed some of her dialogue, but I always miss a little of what people say in accented English. (OK, in a different accent than mine) She was fantastic, and I'm sorry I haven't seen more of her over the years.

The movie wasn't a masterpiece. But it was worth the time spent watching it. Whether it was intentional or not, the movie's slightly off-kilter tempo and underdeveloped story line gave it an eerie, life-like feeling. The interactions between Karin and Alan reminded me of having an interesting conversation with someone you just met. You spend hours laughing, exploring the world's fascinations and revealing intimate details about yourself, but after the conversation ends, you really can't recall anything about the other person; you're left wanting for more. I suppose because I hadn't read the book I had no expectations about it. To me, the movie was about a man who simply marries uncertainty. Alan never really knew Karin completely. Similar to life, we never really know everything about Karin; where she was from or what was going on inside her head. We had vague glimpses, but nothing concrete. Do you really know your spouse? I mean, really? We are always off-guard; we could never quite grab hold of Karin. I admit the movie was hard to watch, but I had this desire to finish it out. After it was over, I wanted more; like the starving man who eats the meager portions on his plate. He doesn't really care who made his meal or what is in it, but he knows he'll need more of it. Also, about Meg Tilley's much maligned German accent. She didn't deliver the stereotypical Marlene Dietrich or Colonel Klink accent; she sounds like the some of the real Germans I know here in the west side of Germany.

Alan Desland is a cultivated English bachelor who has taken over his family's antique porcelain business. On a business trip to Copenhagen, he meets and immediately falls in love with Karin, a stunning German beauty. After only a couple of weeks they marry, honeymoon, and settle into life in Alan's hometown. At first their erotically charged relationship seems like paradise, but this, of course, cannot last. Karin has told Alan virtually nothing of her past, and her dark secret eventually manifests with supernatural trappings and threatens everything.

"The Girl in a Swing" is based on the 1980 novel by Richard "Watership Down" Adams. The film has one thing going for it; the script does an admirable job of lining up and hitting a good number of the novel's main plot points and scenes. Otherwise, this overwrought melodrama has little to recommend it.

There is so much to criticize--from the passionless direction to the insipid soundtrack, awful costuming, and poor casting. Meg Tilly in the role of Karin is particularly troublesome. While she is a fairly attractive woman, she does not project the sort of unearthly eroticism that the character requires. Worse, her muddled, affected German accent obscures most of her dialogue. When Tilly isn't screeching "Alan!" she is mumbling and slurring her most important lines. Director Gordon Hessler does little to salvage things, as he opts to film most of the important supernatural and erotic sequences in one of two modes--either flat or melodramatic.

While very few films adapted from novels can attain the dense subtext of their source material, such a film might at least evoke the essence of the story by establishing a strong mood consistent with the novelist's vision. This film, however, aspires to nothing so worthy. It neither succeeds as an adaptation of Adams' complex novel nor as a worthy cinematic effort in its own right.

Antiques dealer in London, a bachelor who appears to be hesitant of becoming involved with a woman (particularly one with a child), meets a beautiful, enigmatic German girl while on business in Copenhagen. They have a whirlwind courtship and are soon married, but a tragic event in her recent past threatens to tear the lovers apart. Tale of obsessive love and guilt is reticent about revealing its secrets--and, when the climax arrives, it's obscure and troubling, and viewers are left puzzled and rather put off. Dreamily essayed and shot by writer-director Gordon Hessler, via Richard Adams' novel, the film's mercurial nature and heavy-handed psychological overtures may try some viewers' patience long before the climax. Even more frustrating is Meg Tilly's German accent; the actress, glamorous for really the first time, is as dazed and fuzzy-of-thought as ever, and often she's impossible to understand. It's easy to see how a long-time bachelor would become obsessed with her--she's like one of those fragile porcelain figures in his shop--but Hessler dotes on her and dotes on her. Leading man Rupert Frazer is convincingly haunted by the dangerous beauty, though he seems to understand her long before we do. If one responds to the couple's emotional journey, there is hope that the passion and eroticism and heartbreak will all piece together satisfyingly by the end. That doesn't really happen in Hessler's treatment--we're left to ponder the conclusions drawn--yet the high drama at hand is often quite intriguing. **1/2 from ****