Matt Patton
The Homecoming
At a literal level, the events in this film are preposterous. An Englishman (Michael Jayston) on a European vacation with his wife (Vivien Merchant), stops off to visit his family before returning home to the American college where he teaches. Less than a day after he arrives, his brothers (Ian Holm, Terrence Rigby) are making love to her in his presence and the former, a pimp, suggests that he set her up as a call-girl. After a bit of dickering, she agrees, her husband acquiesces, and she takes over as head of this very troubled household . . . Oh, and her husband's uncle drops dead at her feet in the last scene.
But It seems unlikely that Pinter meant the thing to be taken literally. This is The Battle of The Sexes writ large. In this telling, the woman wins, but only by degrading herself and heartlessly manipulating the worst instincts of the men around her. They degrade themselves by giving into their desire for cruelty and domination. Ironically, the passive husband may actually be a ray of hope--there's a suggestion, particularly in the final scene, that the relationship between these two is about something other than control and brutality.
The film was directed by Peter Hall, who had helmed the original 1964 stage production for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and most of the original actors are present as well, the only newcomers being Jayston, in the role of the husband, and Cyril Cusack as the ill-fated uncle, who fit in with ease. And what a terrifying and pathetic lot they are, particularly Paul Rogers as the awful father and Ian Holm as the slick, brutal pimp. As the woman who moves in and takes over their lives, Vivien Merchant glides through with an elegant, terrifying surface ease and a cynical eye for the weaknesses in almost everyone she meets. Hall's direction is spare and brutally focused, helped by David Watkin's cool, stripped-down cinematography. One of the most amazing stage-to-film transfers ever done.
The Homecoming
At a literal level, the events in this film are preposterous. An Englishman (Michael Jayston) on a European vacation with his wife (Vivien Merchant), stops off to visit his family before returning home to the American college where he teaches. Less than a day after he arrives, his brothers (Ian Holm, Terrence Rigby) are making love to her in his presence and the former, a pimp, suggests that he set her up as a call-girl. After a bit of dickering, she agrees, her husband acquiesces, and she takes over as head of this very troubled household . . . Oh, and her husband's uncle drops dead at her feet in the last scene.
But It seems unlikely that Pinter meant the thing to be taken literally. This is The Battle of The Sexes writ large. In this telling, the woman wins, but only by degrading herself and heartlessly manipulating the worst instincts of the men around her. They degrade themselves by giving into their desire for cruelty and domination. Ironically, the passive husband may actually be a ray of hope--there's a suggestion, particularly in the final scene, that the relationship between these two is about something other than control and brutality.
The film was directed by Peter Hall, who had helmed the original 1964 stage production for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and most of the original actors are present as well, the only newcomers being Jayston, in the role of the husband, and Cyril Cusack as the ill-fated uncle, who fit in with ease. And what a terrifying and pathetic lot they are, particularly Paul Rogers as the awful father and Ian Holm as the slick, brutal pimp. As the woman who moves in and takes over their lives, Vivien Merchant glides through with an elegant, terrifying surface ease and a cynical eye for the weaknesses in almost everyone she meets. Hall's direction is spare and brutally focused, helped by David Watkin's cool, stripped-down cinematography. One of the most amazing stage-to-film transfers ever done.