I get that in 1970 everyone was enamored with the new school of filmmaking best represented by MIDNIGHT COWBOY and EASY RIDER, but that this beautiful movie was so soundly dismissed and reviled by so-called professional movie critics is just insane to me. I went in expecting at best an interesting misfire with pretty beach scenery and instead found an absolutely moving, human drama. EASY RIDER and MIDNIGHT COWBOY are interesting in what they tell you about the 1960s, but RYAN'S DAUGHTER is far more timeless in its depiction of the human condition. That it was made fifty-plus years ago and is set during World War I makes no difference.
This is that rare movie where there really aren't good guys and bad guys-- even the most vile characters feel they are justified in what they are doing and have vulnerabilities that make them impossible to totally vilify. For example, the town is justified in their anger towards the British, but their ugliness towards those who are different (like the mentally challenged Michael) and their willingness to make Rosy into a scapegoat complicate them. Rosy is flighty and selfish, but she is also compassionate enough to pity the traumatized Doryan and to feel guilt over how her affair affects her kind husband. This story could have easily devolved into melodrama, but it's so much more psychologically nuanced and humanistic. It even surpasses MADAME BOVARY, its ostensible source material, in making these people feel three-dimensional.
The ending is just about perfect too. Rosy and Charles have become outcasts and are leaving for a new life in Dublin, where they plan to separate. For most of the film, it's easy to see these two as mismatched. And yet, the moment the town turns on them, they become bonded in a strange way. They have more chemistry when they are mutually wounded, as all people inevitably are by life. Like the priest, who leaves Charles with the gift of doubt, we hope the two of them will change their minds and stick it through together. Though this is a tragic story, it is not nihilistic and the last shot leaves the viewer with the notion that maybe Charles and Rosy can now live up to their marriage vows after going through hell. Life is painful, but it need not be joyless or lonely.
Unfortunately, life is a few David Lean films less because of how nasty the critics felt the need to be when RYAN'S DAUGHTER opened. As if I needed any more reason to dislike Pauline Kael...
Still, RYAN'S DAUGHTER has slowly been vindicated over time, with more people coming around on the film. I'm sure Lean would be pleased.
This is that rare movie where there really aren't good guys and bad guys-- even the most vile characters feel they are justified in what they are doing and have vulnerabilities that make them impossible to totally vilify. For example, the town is justified in their anger towards the British, but their ugliness towards those who are different (like the mentally challenged Michael) and their willingness to make Rosy into a scapegoat complicate them. Rosy is flighty and selfish, but she is also compassionate enough to pity the traumatized Doryan and to feel guilt over how her affair affects her kind husband. This story could have easily devolved into melodrama, but it's so much more psychologically nuanced and humanistic. It even surpasses MADAME BOVARY, its ostensible source material, in making these people feel three-dimensional.
The ending is just about perfect too. Rosy and Charles have become outcasts and are leaving for a new life in Dublin, where they plan to separate. For most of the film, it's easy to see these two as mismatched. And yet, the moment the town turns on them, they become bonded in a strange way. They have more chemistry when they are mutually wounded, as all people inevitably are by life. Like the priest, who leaves Charles with the gift of doubt, we hope the two of them will change their minds and stick it through together. Though this is a tragic story, it is not nihilistic and the last shot leaves the viewer with the notion that maybe Charles and Rosy can now live up to their marriage vows after going through hell. Life is painful, but it need not be joyless or lonely.
Unfortunately, life is a few David Lean films less because of how nasty the critics felt the need to be when RYAN'S DAUGHTER opened. As if I needed any more reason to dislike Pauline Kael...
Still, RYAN'S DAUGHTER has slowly been vindicated over time, with more people coming around on the film. I'm sure Lean would be pleased.