The Go-Between (2015 film)
The Go-Between | |
---|---|
Genre | Romantic drama |
Based on | The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley |
Written by | Adrian Hodges |
Directed by | Pete Travis |
Starring | |
Music by | Christian Henson |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producer | Claire Bennett |
Cinematography | Felix Wiedemann |
Editor | Stuart Gazzard |
Running time | 90 minutes |
Production company | |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One |
Release | 20 September 2015 |
The Go-Between is a 2015 British
Cast
- Jack Hollington, young Leo Colston
- Jim Broadbent, old Leo
- Joanna Vanderham, young Marian Maudsley
- Vanessa Redgrave, old Marian
- Ben Batt, Ted Burgess/Hugh Edward Winlove, 11th Viscount Trimingham
- Stephen Campbell Moore, Hugh Winlove, 9th Viscount Trimingham
- Lesley Manville, Madeleine Maudsley
- Samuel Joslin, Marcus Maudsley
- Jack Cutmore-Scott, Denys Maudsley
- Tim McMullan, butler
- Emily Laing, Julia
- Nicholas Evans, boy treble
Plot summary
Leo, an elderly man, is travelling back to the place where he spent the summer of 1900 as the guest of a much wealthier school friend, Marcus Maudsley. On his journey he recalls the events surrounding his original visit, during which he had celebrated his thirteenth birthday and also become besotted with his friend’s older sister Marian, whose family strongly hoped that she would marry the local landowner, Viscount Trimingham.
During Leo’s stay, Marcus had become unwell and, with nothing else to do, Leo had been persuaded to carry secret messages between Marian and a local tenant farmer, Ted Burgess. Initially unaware of the implication of their messages, Leo started to realise their significance shortly before becoming caught up in a sequence of events that he could not control, and barely comprehended at the time. As an older man, everything that happened that summer – the memories of which he has suppressed ever since – become clearer. At the end of his journey, the older Leo sees both Marian and her estranged grandson; Marian persuades him to act as a go-between one last time.
Critical reception
Reviewing The Go-Between for UK daily newspaper
Writing in
In Radio Times, Ben Dowell found it to be, "as slow and languid as the long hot summer that young Leo spent with his wealthy school friend Denys [sic]". He added, "There was an abiding, oppressive sense of doom, with talk of distant duels in the family’s history and beautiful incidental music that complemented and deepened the sense of tragedy, realised most awfully at the end in Burgess' suicide when the heavens literally opened. This was sumptuous, involving, unforgettable drama that stayed with you. If only it hadn't been forced to compete with Downton".[3]
References
- ^ Rees, Jasper (20 September 2015). "The Go-Between, BBC One, review: 'Deeply moving and true'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ Wollaston, Sam (21 September 2015). "Downton Abbey review: 'Thank heaven there's not much more of this tedium'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ Dowell, Ben (20 September 2015). "The Go-Between review: a sad and beautiful story of frustrated love". Radio Times. London. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
External links
- The Go-Between at IMDb