Out of Season (film)

Out of Season is a 1975 British drama film directed by Alan Bridges, and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Susan George, and Cliff Robertson. It was produced by Lorimar Productions and entered into the 25th Berlin International Film Festival.[1]

Out of Season
1975 theatrical poster
Directed byAlan Bridges
Produced byEric Bercovici
Reuben Bercovitch
Written byEric Bercovici
Reuben Bercovitch
StarringCliff Robertson
Vanessa Redgrave
Susan George
Music byJohn Cameron
CinematographyArthur Ibbetson
Edited byPeter Weatherley
Production
company
Lorimar Productions
Distributed byEMI Film Distributors
Release date
  • June 1975 (1975-06)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Out of Season was filmed at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, and on location in Dorset, primarily at the Isle of Portland.[2] The sets were designed by the art director Robert Jones. The film was originally titled Winter Rates and was announced by Daily Variety in 1974 to be starring Redgrave and Oliver Reed. It had an expected budget of approximately $500,000.[2]

Plot

Joe Turner (Cliff Robertson) returns to Great Britain twenty years after he ended a romantic relationship with Ann (Vanessa Redgrave). He discovers her running the same hotel in a picturesque seaside resort in Dorset, but now with a grown daughter named Joanna (Susan George). The principal action of the film is the attempt of the adults to renew their relationship, with interference from the daughter, who flirts with Joe from the moment she meets him, successfully competing with her mother for his attention. Most of the film consists of conversations between the characters, mingled with shots of the nearby seashore.

Days into Joe's return an argument with Ann results in him leaving. However he has a change of heart while walking to the railway station and returns. Arriving back at the hotel, Joe unexpectedly discovers one of the women, later revealed to be Joanna, offering herself to him in his bedroom, and he wordlessly accepts her invitation. The following morning Joe and Ann attempt continue their relationship, but the evening ends with Joanna revealing her and Joe's affair. Ann responds by locking Joanna in her bedroom, while Joe agrees to leave for a few weeks and then come back to Ann.

After Ann goes to bed Joanna escapes out of her window, lets herself back into the hotel and finds Joe sitting alone downstairs. His initial attempts to send her back to her room fail and Ann soon catches the lovers in mid-coitus. She calmly informs Joe that she lied to him when he asked earlier who Joanna's father was, and she said the father was dead - the father was in fact Joe. The next day one of the women leaves the resort by train, while Joe stays with the other and talks about fixing the place up. He sits down to play cards with the remaining woman, who makes no response, and whose face is not shown.[3]

Reception

Variety said: "Virtually a three-hander, Out of Season boasts top-notch performances by Redgrave, Robertson and George, a taut script and first-rate direction. Bridges displays his ability to develop and hold obsessive situations, all hints and innuendos, and this ping pong match of the affections often has the suspense of a whodunit."[4] TV Guide awarded the film three stars, commenting: "A small cast in a tight environment makes this film look like exactly what it is - a stage play adapted for the screen."[3] Time Out noted: "The super-smooth Alan Bridges finds himself landed with an impossible project. The dire script wrings every possible cliché out of the situation. The biggest mystery is why this stagey stuff was filmed at all, and why a cast of this calibre should have bothered."[5]

Texas Monthly said: "Out of Season cannot be tolerated at any time of year. If ever a project called for an executioner, this was it, and the presence of Redgrave, Robertson, George and the underrated director Alan Bridges, should not fool anyone into thinking that this frail mash note to father-daughter sex is a Certified Art Film."[6] Film Review Digest Annual wrote: "With Out of Season, it's a shame that so much tender loving care was expended on so uninteresting a film. Whatever it was in Reuben Bercovitch and Eric Bercovici's wan story that intrigued England's gifted Alan Bridges fails to come across."[7]

Cast

References
  1. "Out of Season (1975 )". Film Affinity. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  2. "AFI-Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  3. "Out Of Season - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  4. Variety Staff (31 December 1974). "Out of Season – Variety". Variety. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  5. "Out of Season, directed by Alan Bridges | Film review". Timeout.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  6. "Texas Monthly - Google Books". Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  7. "Film Review Digest Annual - Google Books". Books.google.co.uk. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.