- Wayne Wilson is a promo paparazzi who has gained his reputation by stalking his celebrity subjects. Feted by an editor who needs his skills to increase the circulation of her magazine, he goes on a spree of photographing footballers, models and rock stars, but does not follow his brief. Eleanor, the editor, is not impressed. To get him to make amends, she sends him to photograph the reclusive actress May Hudson, who has not been photographed for years. He soon discovers that he cannot get her picture in the conventional manner as she never leaves her Buckinghamshire mansion.
- A highly experienced and totally unscrupulous celebrity photographer, who carefully researches all his victims, is hired by his girlfriend, a magazine editor, to take photographs that she can use to boost the magazines circulation and thus secure her job. However, after an assignment goes wrong and she risks being fired, he manages to interest her in his desire to try to track down and photograph a reclusive British film star who blinded the photographer who tried to rape her after a photo shoot. She lost her case and was savaged in the press, after the presiding judge at her trial blamed her for the rapists actions. He now goes to the Buckhamshire village where she lives together with her loyal manservant, who takes care of her home and cooks her meals. He then proceeds to climb over the fence but beats a hasty retreat and abandons his reconnaissance mission, when a large dog bounds into the garden, followed by the servant, who is carrying a rifle. He now repairs to the local pub, where he happens to meets a film scriptwriter and a producer, both of whom have fallen on hard times. Presenting himself as a real estate tycoon, who also owns a magazine, he expresses an interest in buying the actress house and is able to meet her thanks to his two newfound friends who knew her many years ago, when she was at the height of her fame. Having gained access to her, he tries to get her to allow him to photograph her but she is very guarded and reluctant and he is unable to take any photos of her. To try and soften her up, he states that he might be interested in investing money in a film production and suggests that she might consider playing the leading role. The scriptwriter later brings her a script that he wrote several years earlier and gives it to her to read. She does so and is very positive about it. The producer then contacts an American colleague and pitches the project to him, while the photographer mentions to a friend of his, a rising young male star, who states that he would love to work with her.
However, his editor is not pleased with this turn of events, as she wants photographs that show the actress in a negative life, which places him in a dilemma since he finds himself attracted to her and she to him. The scriptwriter and the producer soon realize that he is not a property tycoon but say nothing to the actress, as they do not want her to drop this project, which they see as a means of re-starting their respective careers. Predictably, they soon end up in bed together, as he cannot resist mixing business with pleasure and she still needs to feel that she is attractive to men. The actress, our fake tycoon and the producer and the scriptwriter, all go to Pinewood Studios, which is located nearby, for a meeting with the American big shot producer Steinberger, who is clearly meant to be one of the many Jews working in Hollywood. He is very positive to the proposed film project and says he will contact his bosses and let them know
Sadly, the photographer has not been as clever as he thinks he is and has failed to conceal his true identity, so he is not prepared for her unexpected reaction when she accidentally learns the truth about his deception and he ends up in a very tricky situation for which he is totally unprepared as he does not seem to have realised from his research, just what she was capable of, in this taut, well acted and well photographed cautionary tale, whose ending comes as quite a surprise.
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