Film Review
The most impressive of the production collaborations of Bryan Forbes
and Richard Attenborough,
Seance on
a Wet Afternoon is a darkly affectionate portrait of insanity
and marital devotion that is as poignant as it is unsettling. The
dreary, confined setting of the old Victorian house within which most
of the story takes place is a potent expression of the bleakly
oppressive, Pinteresque relationship of the two deeply flawed yet
believable protagonists. The latter are bound to one another by a mutual
dependency that each resents and tries to fight against, in vain.
Often classed as a psychological thriller, this is in fact an intensely
compelling character piece about two individuals who are struggling
desperately to escape from the mire of mediocrity into which fate has
thrown them.
Much darker in tone than Forbes's previous two (equally impressive)
films,
Whistle Down the Wind (1961)
and
The L-Shaped Room (1962),
Seance on a Wet Afternoon
offers a quintessentially British depiction of mental
derangement. At the outset, it is possible to mistake the
heroine's strange behaviour for eccentricity; indeed, it is her husband
who is the more sinister of the two. But it soon becomes clear
where the power balance lies in the strained husband-wife relationship
and who has purchased a one-way ticket for the funny farm.
Billy's apparent inability to stand up to his wife as their
well-planned scheme spirals out of control would be laughable if the
characters were not played so convincingly by the leads, Kim Stanley
and Richard Attenborough.
Bryan Forbes had particular difficulty casting the part of Myra
Savage. Various distinguished actresses were considered for the
part - including Margaret Lockwood, Deborah Kerr and Simone Signoret -
but none was available or interested in the film. Finally,
Forbes cast the acclaimed American stage actress Kim Stanley (who had
only appeared in one film prior to this) and she proved to be perfect
for the role of Myra. Richard Attenborough was an obvious casting
choice for the part of Myra's husband and gives what is easily one of
his best screen performances, skilfully portraying a man who is visibly
torn between the dictats of his conscience and his duty towards his
wife.
Seance on a Wet Afternoon
offers the most harrowing dissection of a marriage that refuses to
whither and die in spite of the burgeoning tensions between the two
partners, surpassed only by Ingmar Bergman's
Scenes from a Marriage
(1973). This is a kind of love story, but one that is darkly
ironic and savagely undercut by unintentional sadism and cruelty as
madness begins to take over. Romantic love is a kind of insanity
and this is perhaps what makes it so hard for Attenborough's character
to extricate himself from the power that his wife exerts over him and
see her for what she truly is, a mad and dangerous woman.
The peculiarities of married life is something that Bryan Forbes would
revisit time and again in his subsequent films, with just as much insight and
originality, perhaps the best example being his underrated horror
classic
The Stepford Wives (1975).
© James Travers 2009
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Next Bryan Forbes film:
The Wrong Box (1966)
Film Synopsis
Myra Savage is a professional medium who holds regular seances
at her dank Victorian home in London. Her submissive husband,
Billy, is unable to find work owing to his asthma, so the couple are
dependent on Myra's meagre earnings from her seances.
Convinced that she genuinely does have psychic abilities, Myra
conceives a plan that will bring her fame and fortune. She
instructs Billy to abduct the young daughter of a wealthy industrialist
and bring her to the house, where she will be locked up in a room that
has been decorated as a hospital bedroom. After the girl's
parents have paid the ransom, Myra will hold a seance at which
she will reveal the whereabouts of the missing girl. Billy is
convinced the scheme will fail but has no choice but to play
along. He soon realises that his wife has totally lost her grip
on reality and fears where this adventure may end...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.