Adampreston

My prep school could hardly be described as being particularly sophisticated or advanced regarding the arts but at some point I benefited from a projected showing of Renoir's Une Partie de Campagne and the beautiful, romantic, sentimental and sad imagery and story got under my skin and has remained there ever since. I probably saw it when I was nine years old and I am now thirty five. I haven't seen it since but I can still see moments and sequences clearly in my minds eye. Certainly a child is a blank canvas and liable to be more influenced by something than an adult - I am just glad that amongst all the rubbish I was exposed to, someone thought fit to show something this beautiful to me at that moment.

Although the story of a man trapped in a telephone box might be expected to be uneventful and boring the man's different reactions at his predicament are beautifully observed and the viewer is able to identify with him on many levels. At first he is amused, then irritated, then furious, then despairing, then resigned and finally terrified - as was I when I watched this film as a child. I am writing this now at the age of 35 and I have not seen the film since, Yet I can clearly see images from this film as I sit here all these years later. One scene that sticks in my memory is when the telephone box, with the man inside, is being transported on the back of a truck. The truck stops at some lights and the man finds himself being observed by a group of three circus clowns seated on a wall. By this time the man is exhausted and resigned and he exchanges looks of infinite sadness with the rather depressed clowns. This has to be one of the most powerful TV films of all time and deserves to be shown again. Since it was made the world has become obsessed with communication technology - yet for many individuals this technology has actually removed them from human contact. The image of a man for whom a telephone box has become a prison seems to be a perfect metaphorical illustration