3/10
The romance must have happened off screen.
26 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
There's one very funny moment in this where Glenda Jackson arrives home from her very uneventful holiday in the German countryside, hides behind a tree, is groped by husband Michael Caine, and ends up naked on the grass. Just as they are about to make love, the neighbor approaches and asks Caine about his yardwork which results in a boring conversation. Jackson, still bare, gets her way up and prepares to go back to the house, waving goodnight as he bids her good evening, her backside fully exposed. In Germany, she was ogled by the mysterious Helmet Berger who follows her around and briefly converses with her.

This is the extent of the action during the first half hour of the nearly two hour film, and you barely hear anyone speak. There's some lovely shots of the German countryside, and that's it. Back home, Jackson and her writer husband have a conversation about what went on (nothing she claims), and he tells off a nosy friend of hers. Hardly exciting, especially coming from Jackson and Caine who were very popular at the time (she would receive an Oscar nomination for the same year's "Hedda", and appeared in two other films), as well as director Joseph Losey.

By the time any real drama begins, the audience had either fallen asleep, turned it off, or began fidgeting. The only bit of irony from me was the fact that 3 years later, Caine would be in "California Suite", and having to deal with his on-screen wife in that film, Maggie Smith, complaining about Jackson. This was obviously intended to be an art film, but even art must have a point.
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