The Browning Version
This is a quietly good British movie from the early 50s. It stars Michael Redgrave as a pompous and disliked professor of Latin and Greek, Andrew Crocker-Harris; Jean Kent plays his wife, Millie, and Nigel Patrick plays his fellow teacher Frank Hunter - who is Millie's lover.
It's a bit of a "stiff upper lip" drama. Crocker-Harris has a health problem at the age of 43 and must retire from his position. The board refuses to give him a pension, and he has to take a low-paying position at another school which will not support his wife and him. The Crock, as the students call him, is thoroughly disliked by his pupils and apparently also by the board. He soldiers on without kicking up a fuss, even when the headmaster asks him to speak before another teacher instead of last as his longer tenure entitles him. Crocker-Harris accepts degradation after degradation as his last days at the school turn to ashes.
It's clear from conversations that Crocker-Harris was once considered brilliant and that he should have had a bright future ahead of him. Instead he has become a dried up shell of a human being, pedantic, boring, and known for his epigrams in Latin. His students refer to him as Himmler. (For those who have forgotten their history, Himmler was very well known as the head of the Nazi Gestapo, overseeing the internal security forces and the concentration camps where six million humans were slaughtered.) The director (Anthony Asquith) contrasts the classrooms of The Crock (quiet, labored) and Hunter (noisy, much laughter) to show us Crocker-Harris killing the souls of his pupils in his effort to instill an appreciation of Latin and Greek.
How Crocker-Harris became this way is slowly wormed out of the script in a few surprising twists of plot. I hesitate to recommend the movie, as its pace and precise portrait of Crocker- Harris may put some people off. But the actors and the script are remarkably good. We see a portrait of a failure, we learn how he became as he is, and we finally see some hope for redemption.
SPOILERS-------------------------- seriously - serious spoiler here if you haven't seen the movie.
What makes the story rise above the ordinary is that Hunter and Crocker-Harris become friends and Crocker-Harris gives himself a chance to recover his lost brilliance. Hunter and Millie are lovers, but Hunter sees her abusive treatment of Crocker-Harris and dumps her on the spot - a surprising turn of events given his lack of decency so far. Hunter turns to Crocker-Harris as a friend, rejected at first, then accepted with a confession from Crocker- Harris concerning the failure of his marriage. We end up going from a bitter ending with Crocker-Harris as a total failure in his life, his work, and his marriage to an ending with the potential for him to recover his life and his work, but ending his marriage with dignity.
Redgrave's performance as Crocker-Harris is very British and always on point; never a parody nor condescending - Crocker-Harris is a very precise man, and Redgrave nails the role. The confession Crocker-Harris makes to Hunter is that there are two kinds of love, and he could give Millie only one, when she wanted the other. My assumption is that "the other" is what she was getting from Hunter - a sexual relationship. The one Crocker-Harris offered is not spelled out. Watching the film without any knowledge of it, I assumed Crocker-Harris was impotent and offered only a platonic love.
The movie is based on a one act play by Terrence Rattigan. According to the IMDb, Rattigan was a closeted homosexual born in England in 1911. He grew up in a land where homosexuality was a crime. Rattigan did the script for the movie, and the suggestion is that the love Crocker-Harris referred to was gay love, but the script is vague. There is nothing gay about Crocker-Harris, but one would not expect a gay man to be openly gay in his situation.*
Whether Crocker-Harris is straight or gay, the lack of sexual satisfaction leaves Millie bitter and angry. We see her abuse him mercilessly, taking away any small pleasures he may have had. We see ultimately why Crocker-Harris became the dried up shell he is, sucking dry the souls of others without even knowing it. His entire life and career manifest the bitterness of his wife toward him. Hunter helps Crocker-Harris see the situation and make the decision to end his marriage and pick up his life and work again. It's a bitter ending with some hope; maybe enough to be bittersweet; maybe not. It's an adult work without the Hollywood ending - just like life.
*Michael Redgrave, according to Wikipedia was married to the same woman for 50 years but was a bi-sexual with a long term affair with another man. It's an interesting position for Redgrave to be in.
This is a quietly good British movie from the early 50s. It stars Michael Redgrave as a pompous and disliked professor of Latin and Greek, Andrew Crocker-Harris; Jean Kent plays his wife, Millie, and Nigel Patrick plays his fellow teacher Frank Hunter - who is Millie's lover.
It's a bit of a "stiff upper lip" drama. Crocker-Harris has a health problem at the age of 43 and must retire from his position. The board refuses to give him a pension, and he has to take a low-paying position at another school which will not support his wife and him. The Crock, as the students call him, is thoroughly disliked by his pupils and apparently also by the board. He soldiers on without kicking up a fuss, even when the headmaster asks him to speak before another teacher instead of last as his longer tenure entitles him. Crocker-Harris accepts degradation after degradation as his last days at the school turn to ashes.
It's clear from conversations that Crocker-Harris was once considered brilliant and that he should have had a bright future ahead of him. Instead he has become a dried up shell of a human being, pedantic, boring, and known for his epigrams in Latin. His students refer to him as Himmler. (For those who have forgotten their history, Himmler was very well known as the head of the Nazi Gestapo, overseeing the internal security forces and the concentration camps where six million humans were slaughtered.) The director (Anthony Asquith) contrasts the classrooms of The Crock (quiet, labored) and Hunter (noisy, much laughter) to show us Crocker-Harris killing the souls of his pupils in his effort to instill an appreciation of Latin and Greek.
How Crocker-Harris became this way is slowly wormed out of the script in a few surprising twists of plot. I hesitate to recommend the movie, as its pace and precise portrait of Crocker- Harris may put some people off. But the actors and the script are remarkably good. We see a portrait of a failure, we learn how he became as he is, and we finally see some hope for redemption.
SPOILERS-------------------------- seriously - serious spoiler here if you haven't seen the movie.
What makes the story rise above the ordinary is that Hunter and Crocker-Harris become friends and Crocker-Harris gives himself a chance to recover his lost brilliance. Hunter and Millie are lovers, but Hunter sees her abusive treatment of Crocker-Harris and dumps her on the spot - a surprising turn of events given his lack of decency so far. Hunter turns to Crocker-Harris as a friend, rejected at first, then accepted with a confession from Crocker- Harris concerning the failure of his marriage. We end up going from a bitter ending with Crocker-Harris as a total failure in his life, his work, and his marriage to an ending with the potential for him to recover his life and his work, but ending his marriage with dignity.
Redgrave's performance as Crocker-Harris is very British and always on point; never a parody nor condescending - Crocker-Harris is a very precise man, and Redgrave nails the role. The confession Crocker-Harris makes to Hunter is that there are two kinds of love, and he could give Millie only one, when she wanted the other. My assumption is that "the other" is what she was getting from Hunter - a sexual relationship. The one Crocker-Harris offered is not spelled out. Watching the film without any knowledge of it, I assumed Crocker-Harris was impotent and offered only a platonic love.
The movie is based on a one act play by Terrence Rattigan. According to the IMDb, Rattigan was a closeted homosexual born in England in 1911. He grew up in a land where homosexuality was a crime. Rattigan did the script for the movie, and the suggestion is that the love Crocker-Harris referred to was gay love, but the script is vague. There is nothing gay about Crocker-Harris, but one would not expect a gay man to be openly gay in his situation.*
Whether Crocker-Harris is straight or gay, the lack of sexual satisfaction leaves Millie bitter and angry. We see her abuse him mercilessly, taking away any small pleasures he may have had. We see ultimately why Crocker-Harris became the dried up shell he is, sucking dry the souls of others without even knowing it. His entire life and career manifest the bitterness of his wife toward him. Hunter helps Crocker-Harris see the situation and make the decision to end his marriage and pick up his life and work again. It's a bitter ending with some hope; maybe enough to be bittersweet; maybe not. It's an adult work without the Hollywood ending - just like life.
*Michael Redgrave, according to Wikipedia was married to the same woman for 50 years but was a bi-sexual with a long term affair with another man. It's an interesting position for Redgrave to be in.