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David Lean later remembered The Passionate Friends' troubled genesis as "one
of the worst times I've had in my professional life". Adapted by Eric Ambler
from a novel by H.G. Wells, it was originally to be directed by Ronald Neame,
another member of the Cineguild team. However, Lean was horrified when he saw
the script and played a vital role in re-writing it; he subsequently took over
as director, with Neame redeployed as producer. Marius Goring, originally cast
as the lover, was replaced by Trevor Howard.
It was during the filming of The Passionate Friends that the director (then
married to Kay Walsh) fell in love with his leading lady, Ann Todd. While
shooting on location in Switzerland, the two would frequently disappear together
for romantic boat rides on Lake Annecy. They divorced their respective partners
and married the following year.
The Passionate Friends provoked mixed reactions from critics who welcomed 'an
adult love story' but were frustrated by what they saw as Lean's refusal to tell
that story straightforwardly. The Evening Standard described the film as "such a
wild mêlée of retrospection and reminiscence that it would be appear to be shot
with a time machine instead of a camera." That sounds today more like praise
than censure, and indeed the film's intricate structure brilliantly reflects
Mary's complex emotional state, torn between past and present, incapable of
committing fully either to her husband or her lover.
There was, though, universal acclaim for the beautiful cinematography and
finely nuanced performances. Todd portrays Mary with delicate ambiguity, her
glacial beauty enhanced by Guy Green's wonderful lighting, influenced -
according to Lean's biographer Kevin Brownlow - 'by the gauzed, lustrous glamour
lighting of Lee Garmes who had shot many of Marlene Dietrich's films for
Sternberg'. Howard imbues the idealistic biology professor with the romantic
aura still clinging to him from his similar role in Lean's Brief Encounter
(1945). And Claude Rains is utterly mesmerising as the suavely calculating,
sometimes sadistic husband who ultimately reveals unsuspected emotional
depths.
For critic David Thomson, Lean's films of this period constitute his greatest
achievement: "They are lively, stirring, and an inspiration - they make you want
to go out and make movies, they are so in love with the screen's power and the
combustion in editing." And it is The Passionate Friends that Thomson singles
out as "the kind of thing Lean was made to do".
Margaret Deriaz
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1. Stalls Row D (2:54)
Original poster
Monthly Film Bulletin review
