Buttercup Chain, The (1970)

A lovely, melancholy little gem about lost love and fleeting friendships from director Robert Ellis Miller.

The Buttercup Chain stars 60s icon Jane Asher and Hywel Bennett (Shelley) as France and Margaret, a pair of cousins in Swinging London who ensnare American free spirit Manny (Leigh Taylor-Young at her Mod best) and Scandinavian hunk Fred (Sven-Bertil Taube) into their roundelay of bed-hopping.

The four young actors are all beautiful, and England, Spain, Rome, and Sweden provide the background scenery.

Much of the time the quartet are swimming, bathing or making love, so the two female leads are frequently topless. The Buttercup Chain is a wistful, pastel-coloured and patchouli-scented time capsule of an era when Love Was All Around.

France
Hywel Bennett
Manny
Leigh Taylor-Young
Margaret
Jane Asher
Fred
Sven-Bertil Taube
George
Clive Revill
Martin Carr-Gibbons
Roy Dotrice
The Driver
Michael Elphick
Alberto
Jonathan Burn
Ullah
Yutte Stensgaard
Kate
Susan Baker
Ursula
Jennifer Baker

Director
Robert Ellis Miller