Sunday Bloody Sunday is a
1971The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...
British film directed by
John SchlesingerJohn Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
. It tells the story of a young bisexual designer (
Murray HeadMurray Seafield Saint-George Head is an English actor and singer, most recognized for his international hit song, "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So.-Life and career:...
) and his simultaneous relationships with a recruitment consultant (
Glenda JacksonGlenda May Jackson, CBE is an English actress and politician, currently Labour Member of Parliament for the constituency of Hampstead and Highgate in the London Borough of Camden.- Biography:...
) and a Jewish doctor (
Peter FinchPeter Finch was a British - born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as 'crazed' television anchorman Howard Beale in the film, Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the BAFTA, and a Best Actor award from the Golden...
). The movie also stars Dame
Peggy AshcroftDame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
and
Maurice DenhamMaurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 television programmes and films throughout his long career.-Life and career:...
.
The film is noteworthy for being one of the first mainstream films with a homosexual theme.
A Jewish doctor, Daniel Hirsh (Finch) and a young woman, Alex Greville (Jackson) are both involved in a
love triangleA love triangle is a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two. The relationships can be friendships, romantic,...
with the same person, Bob Elkin (Head).
Sunday Bloody Sunday is a
1971The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...
British film directed by
John SchlesingerJohn Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
. It tells the story of a young bisexual designer (
Murray HeadMurray Seafield Saint-George Head is an English actor and singer, most recognized for his international hit song, "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So.-Life and career:...
) and his simultaneous relationships with a recruitment consultant (
Glenda JacksonGlenda May Jackson, CBE is an English actress and politician, currently Labour Member of Parliament for the constituency of Hampstead and Highgate in the London Borough of Camden.- Biography:...
) and a Jewish doctor (
Peter FinchPeter Finch was a British - born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as 'crazed' television anchorman Howard Beale in the film, Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the BAFTA, and a Best Actor award from the Golden...
). The movie also stars Dame
Peggy AshcroftDame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
and
Maurice DenhamMaurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 television programmes and films throughout his long career.-Life and career:...
.
The film is noteworthy for being one of the first mainstream films with a homosexual theme.
Synopsis
A Jewish doctor, Daniel Hirsh (Finch) and a young woman, Alex Greville (Jackson) are both involved in a
love triangleA love triangle is a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two. The relationships can be friendships, romantic,...
with the same person, Bob Elkin (Head). Not only are Hirsh and Greville aware that Elkin is seeing the other, but they know each other through mutual friends. Despite this, they are willing to put up with the situation through fear of losing Elkin, who switches freely between them.
For Greville, the relationship is bound up with a growing disillusionment about her life, failed marriage and uneasy childhood. For Hirsh, it represents an escape from the repressed nature of his Jewish upbringing. Both realise the lack of permanence about their situation, and it is only when Elkin decides to leave the country that they both come face to face (for the first time in the narrative, and at the very end). Despite their opposed situations, both come to realize that it is time to move on.
The film is significant for its time period, in that Finch's character is normal and relatively well adjusted (aside from his being distraught over the impending departure of Elkin), and is not particularly upset by or obsessed with his homosexuality.
Music
The film makes extensive use of
source musicAlthough background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
including a recurring motif of the
trioTernary form is a three-part A–B–A structure in a piece of music. The first and third parts are musically identical, or very nearly so, while the second part contrasts sharply with it. The B section is often known as a trio....
Soave sia il vento from Mozart's opera
Cosi Fan TutteCosì fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
.
Production notes
- Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was a British actor of stage, screen and television.-Early life:Bates was born in Allestree, Derby, England on 17 February 1934, the eldest of three sons of Florence Mary , a homemaker and a pianist, and Harold Arthur Bates, an insurance broker and a cellist...
was the original choice made by John SchlesingerJohn Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
for the role of Daniel Hirsh, the homosexual doctor. However he was held up filming The Go-BetweenThe Go-Between is a novel by L.P. Hartley , published in London in 1953. The novel begins with the famous line:"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."-Plot summary:...
(1970) and was replaced first by Ian BannenIan Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the army and attended St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...
and later by Peter FinchPeter Finch was a British - born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as 'crazed' television anchorman Howard Beale in the film, Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the BAFTA, and a Best Actor award from the Golden...
. However, the role of Daniel was written as that of a much younger man.
- Several actresses (including Dame Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans DBE was an actress who was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty aristocratic...
and Thora HirdDame Thora Hird, DBE was an English actress.Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She was the mother of the actress Janette Scott, and thus formerly the mother-in-law of the singer Mel Tormé....
) politely refused the part of Glenda Jackson's mother, Mrs. Greville, because they thought the project was too risqué. Peggy AshcroftDame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
accepted after the director explained to her the elements of the story and she gladly signed on.
- Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the army and attended St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...
was fired from the role of Daniel Hirsh shortly after filming began. Apparently, he was so nervous about what kissing another actor on screen might do to his career, he could not concentrate enough to even get going with the part. He later said that losing the role set back his career, and regretted it till his death.
- Actor Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with British and Irish citizenship. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only four films since 1997, with as many as five years between roles. He is a method actor, known for his constant...
made his film debut at the age of 14 in this film as a vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as "heaven", for getting paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church.
Awards
Sunday Bloody Sunday was nominated for four
Academy AwardsThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
:
Best Actor in a Leading RolePerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Peter Finch),
Best Actress in a Leading RolePerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Glenda Jackson),
Best DirectorThe Academy Award for Achievement in Directing is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
and Original Screenplay.
It won the
BAFTA Award for Best FilmThis page lists the Milo and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
. It also won acting honors for Finch and Jackson, as well as the BAFTA for Best Direction for Schlesinger.
External links