The Go-Between

1971

Action / Drama / Romance

7
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 100% · 11 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 78% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 6257 6.3K

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Plot summary

British teenager Leo Colston spends a summer in the countryside, where he develops a crush on the beautiful young aristocrat Marian. Eager to impress her, Leo becomes the "go-between" for Marian, delivering secret romantic letters to Ted Burgess, a handsome neighboring farmer.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
August 13, 2018 at 09:54 AM

Director

Top cast

Julie Christie as Marian - Lady Trimingham
Michael Gough as Mr. Maudsley
Jim Broadbent as Spectator at Cricket Match
Edward Fox as Hugh Trimingham
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
945.31 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
24 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 4
1.82 GB
1920*1024
English 2.0
NR
24 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 17

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by JamesHitchcock 8 / 10

Love in a Heatwave

Contains spoilers

Based on a novel by L.P. Hartley, 'The Go-Between' is set during a hot August in late Victorian or Edwardian England. (References to the Boer War suggest that the year is 1900 or 1901). Leo, a twelve year old schoolboy has gone to stay with his school friend Marcus Maudsley and his wealthy family in their stately home in the Norfolk countryside. Leo meets Marcus's older sister Marion, who is secretly having an affair with Ted Burgess, a local farmer. Marion needs to keep this relationship hidden from her parents, who would not approve of Burgess as a potential son-in-law, partly because they regard him as being a social inferior, partly because he has a reputation (possibly undeserved) as a philanderer and partly because they are encouraging her to marry another suitor, the rich aristocrat Hugh Trimingham. In order to keep her secret, Marion needs a messenger to take messages between herself and Ted; she cannot trust the servants, whose first loyalty is to her father, so she enlists Leo as the 'go-between' of the film's title. Leo is ideal for this purpose; he is from a middle-class background less affluent than the Maudsleys and is too much in awe of the beautiful, sophisticated Marion to think of disobeying her. Moreover, his youth and innocence about sexual matters mean that he does not understand the full implications of Marion's friendship with Ted.

Throughout the film there are occasional scenes set at a later period in history- the late forties or fifties to judge by the clothes and vehicles that we see. These are initially very brief glimpses- lasting only a few seconds- but we later see more of this later period, including scenes of the now-elderly Marion and the middle-aged Leo.

The weather plays an important part in this film. The latter-day scenes are shot against a backdrop of grey, overcast skies. The turn of the century scenes, however, mostly take place against a background of sunshine and fierce heat. There is much evocative photography of the English countryside, the pale, sun-bleached colours capturing the dried-up, dusty look of a late summer heatwave. (The subdued tones of this film tend to set it apart from the richer colours of other examples of 'British heritage cinema' such as the work of Merchant Ivory. It is interesting that both Joseph Losey and James Ivory were American rather than British by birth). Although there are plenty of open vistas (Norfolk is one of the flattest parts of England), there is a stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere. The pace of the film is, for the most part, leisurely (the English upper classes rarely do anything in a hurry, particularly during hot weather), but there is always a sense of movement, slow but inexorable, towards some fateful denouement, a sense heightened by Michel Legrand's urgent, insistent musical score. (The scoring is reminiscent of a late Romantic piano concerto). Just as the hot weather is building up towards an inevitable thunderstorm, so the relationship between Marion and Ted is building towards a tragic climax. When this climax finally comes and their secret is revealed, it does so on a day of torrential rain after the weather has broken.

It is perhaps an interesting comment on changing climatic patterns that in the film a temperature of 83 degrees Fahrenheit (which today in Southern Britain would be regarded as a normal warm summer's day) is regarded as a record-breaking heatwave. In 1970, a year coming at the end of two decades of cool, rainy summers, hot weather was not something taken for granted, even in August.

One of the main themes of the film is an examination of the social class structure of the period. This structure is more subtle than a simple rich/poor divide. The Maudsleys, part of the landed gentry, are not quite aristocrats; Trimingham, a peer of the realm, is the genuine article, so they see his marriage to their daughter as a step towards social advancement. The family's attitude towards the bourgeois Leo is somewhat condescending as though he were a 'poor relation', but Leo's family are clearly not poor in any absolute sense; if they were, his widowed mother could not afford to send him to the same private school as Marcus. Even Burgess is probably comparatively prosperous- Norfolk contains some of the richest agricultural land in Britain- but his lowly social origins, betrayed by his rustic accent, and his status as a tenant count against him.

There are a number of excellent acting performances in the film, particularly from those two iconic sixties figures Julie Christie and Alan Bates as the doomed lovers, Margaret Leighton as Marion's obsessive mother whose prying precipitates the tragedy, Dominic Guard as young Leo and Michael Redgrave as the older Leo. The one thing I did not like was the use of the twenty-nine year old Christie to play the older Marion; even the use of make-up and low-level lighting could not make her a convincing seventy or eighty, and the film would have been improved by casting an older actress in the part.

Dominic Guard did not go on to make many more feature films, but the other major film in which he starred was Peter Weir's 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' five years later. There are a surprising number of parallels between the two films; both are set during a period of oppressive summer heat around 1900, both have a similarly claustrophobic atmosphere, and both deal with emerging female sexuality and with the Victorian/Edwardian class system. 'The Go-Between,' which is more realistic and less mystical in tone, is not quite on the same level as Weir's masterpiece, but it is nevertheless one of the best British films of the early seventies. (There are also parallels with the only other film in which Bates and Christie acted together, John Schlesinger's adaptation of Hardy's 'Far from the Madding Crowd'. With its rural setting and story of love between people of different social classes, Hartley's novel clearly shows the influence of Hardy). 8/10

Reviewed by zach-27 8 / 10

Elegant, tragic, yet oddly liberating

The first time I saw this film, I was 18 years old. Now, almost thirty years later, I am still enthralled by its two atmospheres - a hot summery Norfolk, England at the turn of the century versus a cloudy, rainy, modern-day Norfolk. The juxtaposition between the two periods is stunning, and mysterious. The acting is superb, the sets and costumes are superior, and the haunting Michel Legrand score stays with you long after the film is over. I find the film to be quite elegant in its scenes of yesteryear, where the "old" England seemed dreamy, leisurely, carefree, and prim and proper, compared to the dreary, coldly realistic, grown-up, modern-day England, where the past is spoken about, and an explanation of what happened in the past is requested.

Although the movie ends on a tragic note, there is a hint of hope which I found oddly liberating, a feature I didn't notice 30 years ago. But like fine wine, this movie ages well. Enjoy, and go on a trip to the past "...{where it's} a foreign country...they do things differently there."

Reviewed by moonspinner55 6 / 10

Grown-up games of desire and passion as witnessed through a child's eyes...

In the early 1900s, a 12-year-old boy staying with his school-friend and his friend's family in the English countryside for the summer becomes indirectly involved in the clandestine affair between a privileged young woman and a lusty, low-class farmer. Harboring a crush on his friend's older sister, the lad is at first anxious to be her messenger, but his feelings soon sour once he realizes he's being used--as is the woman's rich, stuffy intended--in a game of love-play which he does not altogether understand. Harold Pinter's adaptation of the novel by L.P. Hartley smartly concentrates on the boy's perception of the events, although the flash-forwards in time (which culminate in an obtuse epilogue) fall rather flat. Joseph Losey directs in a clear, concise manner without too much dawdling about, building up the tension in the household with precision. Disapproving family matriarch Margaret Leighton, who sees the world through slanted, jaded eyes, has a terrifically charged moment late in the movie where she confronts the child over a letter in his pocket, and young Dominic Guard is excellent as well. The star-crossed lovers, Julie Christie and Alan Bates, have far less to work with (surprisingly), but do have superlative moments. The unvarying score by Michel Legrand becomes monotonous before long, and the production design and cinematography are disappointing, though the film has a quiet power that is unsettling. **1/2 from ****

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