Darling (1965)

John Schlesinger’s quite brilliant, if savage, slashing attack on the new rich, is a story of a young girl whose desire for the good things in life persuade her to give up the man who has left his wife for the love of her, only to drift into eventual loneliness and disillusionment.

Julie Christie (pictured at right) sets off fireworks as the enchanting but self-centred Diana.

Diana is a model who cuts a swathe through the trendy 60s and through the lives of nice intelligent (but married) journalist Bogarde, not-very-nice but oh-so-cool marketing mogul Harvey and a single-parent Italian prince.

At the time, England was going through its mod “swinging London” phase, and this scalding satire by John Schlesinger remains a grand evocation of the times.

Impulsive, restless, self-absorbed and selfish, Julie Christie embodies the heartless heroine who uses men like Kleenex on her way to the top, and Dirk Bogarde, Laurence Harvey, and Roland Curram are three of the distinguished actors who provide bed and breakfast along the way.

Julie Christie won an Academy Award for her performance. The costume design and Frederic Raphael’s incisive script also won Oscars.

Robert Gold
Dirk Bogarde
Miles Brand
Laurence Harvey
Diana Scott
Julie Christie
Cesare
José Luis de Villalonga
Malcolm
Roland Curram
Alec Prosser-Jones
Basil Henson
Felicity Prosser-Jones
Helen Lindsay

Director
John Schlesinger