In these more enlightened times of our world, where #MeToo and #TimesUp have helped to change the perceptions of women across the world, it is also fitting that we should go back to a more naive tiime when London was emerging from a war-heated cocoon of inner-strength and survival of the fittest.
John Schlesinger‘s DARLING (1965), which has been reissued as part of a new 4K restoration through StudioCanal, is the movie that cemented, along with DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, Julie Christie‘s reputation as the ‘Cinema It-Girl‘ of the decade. We have seen variants of her template as a young, energetic London type since then with the likes of Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Lily James amongst others in recent decades, but there is also time to take considerable pause and analyse what DARLING‘s main protagonist, Diana Scott(Christie) represents in the modern age.
Into the maelstrom of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ comes a volatile grenade in Christie’s character, a model who is determined to make both a societal and emotional mark on all she comes into contact with, a vibrancy that is not lost on the males who inhabit her inner circle.
The three key players that form the backbone of her dalliances are Robert Gold (Dirk Bogarde), a TV interviewer that represents the suaveness of the likes of David Frost and Richard Dimbleby, an advertising executive (Laurence Harvey, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE 1962 version) and Ronald Curram as a gay magazine photographer, a symbol that was defined by the likes of David Bailey and in David Hemmings in Michelangelo Antonioni’s BLOW-UP (1967), still to come in the decade.
As relationships evolve and complicate in Scott’s life, the process of trying to be the heart and soul of London’s thriving, fortuitous party scene begins to take its’ toll on her and a desire to settle down starts to take priority, a conundrum that will challenge her….
Very much a film of its’ time but an interesting analysis of feminism and conflict, DARLING does provide some virtue and a clear reminder of what turned Julie Christie into one of the greatest British acting talents of all time. However, it is also the supporting performances, particularly from Dirk Bogarde in one of his most beloved roles, that counterbalance and compliment Christie who is near perfect on screen and was deserving of her Academy Award as Best Actress at the time.
Modern audiences, particularly London residents, will find some fun spotting familiar locales and although there are one or two non-PC references in the mix (one image of a black servant boy will certainly arouse concern from the modern woke brigade), it is still a fine, watchable movie on balance.
DARLING BOWED IN CINEMAS FROM 30 MAY, 2025
AVAILABLE ON 4K UHD AND BLU-RAY ON 16 JUNE. PRE-ORDER HERE ON AMAZON: