The Romantic Englishwoman
Joseph Losey said, "Films can illustrate our existence...they can distress, disturb and provoke people into thinking about themselves and certain problems. But not give the answers."
The Romantic Englishwoman (1975) plays with ideas of marital jealousy, fiction versus fact, romantic escapism, and the master/servant relationship more fully and brilliantly developed in Losey's The Servant (1963).
The central relationship is an uneasy marriage between a novelist, Lewis Fielding (Michael Caine), and Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson). They have a young son, a young nanny, and a housemaid. They occupy a rich social circle that includes a newspaper writer, Isabel (Kate Nelligan). Lewis can't stand Isabel. His screaming tirade against her and her profession shows what kind of an edgy, frustrated creative artist he is, at the time the film takes place, anyway. He's writing a new novel. The sounds of the domestic activity of the three women in the house drives him away from his electric typewriter. Drinks are always available. Lack of real communication with his wife grows throughout the movie. He turns to making up scenarios for his novel involving an Elizabeth-based character vacationing in Baden-Baden, just as the real Elizabeth had done.
He makes up a sexual encounter for her in an elevator, screwing a German poet she's just met. In truth, Elizabeth does meet a German in Baden-Baden, Thomas (Helmut Berger), a handsome man claiming to be a poet. He's actually a heroin smuggler, supposed to make a delivery to Swan (Michel Lonsdale, one of the key players in Jacques Rivette's Out One, reviewed elsewhere in this blog).
Thomas, arriving shortly before Swan, hides the heroin packages in a drainpipe on the hotel's roof. He doesn't get to them before a sudden heavy rain storm spoils the packages. In imminent danger, he travels to England, looks up Elizabeth and Lewis Fielding, skimming one of the latter's novels on the train. He's contacted Lewis, identified himself as the German poet met by his wife. Lewis, intrigued to meet a man who's become one of the characters in his current novel, invites Thomas over for a visit.
Elizabeth, contrary to Lewis's novelistic fantasies, isn't in the slightest bit interested in Thomas. The awkward tea between the three of them is followed by an awkward dinner, and an invitation from Lewis for Thomas to stay the night. Elizabeth asks Thomas which of Lewis's novels is his favorite. Thomas replies, "Tom Jones," mixing up the eighteenth century author Henry Fielding with Lewis Fielding.
Despite Elizabeth's indifference towards Thomas, Lewis keeps him on as a semi-permanent houseguest, giving him secretarial work and a meager salary. Thomas gets along well with their son, to Elizabeth's annoyance. The nanny's flirtations with the houseguest also get on Elizabeth's nerves. Lewis, meanwhile, can't connect in reality with his wife. He writes further of the imaginary relationship between the Thomas and Elizabeth characters in his novel. These absurd scenes, dramatized in a heightened over the top way, are funny but also a sad indication of Lewis's deterioration as his stupid actions push his wife into the interloper's arms.
Elizabeth and Thomas finally run away together to the French Riviera. All along, in the midst of their doomed passion, Thomas flees from Swan and his men. He will likely be killed if he's caught.
Thomas eventually gives up, summoning Lewis to where he can find his wife. Swan takes Thomas, Lewis and Elizabeth return to England only to find their new nanny throwing a big party in their house. As with the director's quote above, there is no answer at the end. To be romantic, perhaps, is to be irresponsible. Elizabeth's dash away from her family has opened up her home to more irresponsibility, her little son presumably indoors with a houseful of pot smoking and drinking people, some of them having sex.
The idea of romanticism can be seen in the choice by Thomas to call himself a poet. There is also Lewis's romanticism, his imagination burning up as he pictures his wife doing something she didn't do with another man, forcing an adulterous relationship between two people who wouldn't have gotten together if it hadn't been for the husband, blocked in his novel only to find an advancement in the plot through the introduction of an imaginary fuck in an elevator.
It's a clever and amusing but dramatic film, the screenplay written by Tom Stoppard. As in every Losey film I've seen, the unfolding of images and story make for a fascinating viewing experience. Michael Caine does a good job as an impotent husband--not impotent sexually, but someone prone to being thwarted. Helmut Berger is also very good as the self-described poet. Whenever he does something, it comes across as sneaky. He's always giving the impression he's not what he appears to be. Glenda Jackson is excellent, a charm on the flat screen, graceful in her movements and just naturally sexy.
I enjoyed this film a great deal, saw it on Amazon Prime.
Vic Neptune
Joseph Losey said, "Films can illustrate our existence...they can distress, disturb and provoke people into thinking about themselves and certain problems. But not give the answers."
The Romantic Englishwoman (1975) plays with ideas of marital jealousy, fiction versus fact, romantic escapism, and the master/servant relationship more fully and brilliantly developed in Losey's The Servant (1963).
The central relationship is an uneasy marriage between a novelist, Lewis Fielding (Michael Caine), and Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson). They have a young son, a young nanny, and a housemaid. They occupy a rich social circle that includes a newspaper writer, Isabel (Kate Nelligan). Lewis can't stand Isabel. His screaming tirade against her and her profession shows what kind of an edgy, frustrated creative artist he is, at the time the film takes place, anyway. He's writing a new novel. The sounds of the domestic activity of the three women in the house drives him away from his electric typewriter. Drinks are always available. Lack of real communication with his wife grows throughout the movie. He turns to making up scenarios for his novel involving an Elizabeth-based character vacationing in Baden-Baden, just as the real Elizabeth had done.
He makes up a sexual encounter for her in an elevator, screwing a German poet she's just met. In truth, Elizabeth does meet a German in Baden-Baden, Thomas (Helmut Berger), a handsome man claiming to be a poet. He's actually a heroin smuggler, supposed to make a delivery to Swan (Michel Lonsdale, one of the key players in Jacques Rivette's Out One, reviewed elsewhere in this blog).
Thomas, arriving shortly before Swan, hides the heroin packages in a drainpipe on the hotel's roof. He doesn't get to them before a sudden heavy rain storm spoils the packages. In imminent danger, he travels to England, looks up Elizabeth and Lewis Fielding, skimming one of the latter's novels on the train. He's contacted Lewis, identified himself as the German poet met by his wife. Lewis, intrigued to meet a man who's become one of the characters in his current novel, invites Thomas over for a visit.
Elizabeth, contrary to Lewis's novelistic fantasies, isn't in the slightest bit interested in Thomas. The awkward tea between the three of them is followed by an awkward dinner, and an invitation from Lewis for Thomas to stay the night. Elizabeth asks Thomas which of Lewis's novels is his favorite. Thomas replies, "Tom Jones," mixing up the eighteenth century author Henry Fielding with Lewis Fielding.
Despite Elizabeth's indifference towards Thomas, Lewis keeps him on as a semi-permanent houseguest, giving him secretarial work and a meager salary. Thomas gets along well with their son, to Elizabeth's annoyance. The nanny's flirtations with the houseguest also get on Elizabeth's nerves. Lewis, meanwhile, can't connect in reality with his wife. He writes further of the imaginary relationship between the Thomas and Elizabeth characters in his novel. These absurd scenes, dramatized in a heightened over the top way, are funny but also a sad indication of Lewis's deterioration as his stupid actions push his wife into the interloper's arms.
Elizabeth and Thomas finally run away together to the French Riviera. All along, in the midst of their doomed passion, Thomas flees from Swan and his men. He will likely be killed if he's caught.
Thomas eventually gives up, summoning Lewis to where he can find his wife. Swan takes Thomas, Lewis and Elizabeth return to England only to find their new nanny throwing a big party in their house. As with the director's quote above, there is no answer at the end. To be romantic, perhaps, is to be irresponsible. Elizabeth's dash away from her family has opened up her home to more irresponsibility, her little son presumably indoors with a houseful of pot smoking and drinking people, some of them having sex.
The idea of romanticism can be seen in the choice by Thomas to call himself a poet. There is also Lewis's romanticism, his imagination burning up as he pictures his wife doing something she didn't do with another man, forcing an adulterous relationship between two people who wouldn't have gotten together if it hadn't been for the husband, blocked in his novel only to find an advancement in the plot through the introduction of an imaginary fuck in an elevator.
It's a clever and amusing but dramatic film, the screenplay written by Tom Stoppard. As in every Losey film I've seen, the unfolding of images and story make for a fascinating viewing experience. Michael Caine does a good job as an impotent husband--not impotent sexually, but someone prone to being thwarted. Helmut Berger is also very good as the self-described poet. Whenever he does something, it comes across as sneaky. He's always giving the impression he's not what he appears to be. Glenda Jackson is excellent, a charm on the flat screen, graceful in her movements and just naturally sexy.
I enjoyed this film a great deal, saw it on Amazon Prime.
Vic Neptune
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