Nice setting of an old French manor in summer inhabited by an old dragon of a painter (Olivier) and two maidens, former art students, that he has ensnared (Scacchi and Wilcox). Into his realm to interview him comes not a knight errant but a self-satisfied example of the modern world (Rees). One of the girls, shy but gifted, wonders whether to escape with him and rejoin the world. Before the end she realises he is not worth it.
The book said a lot more but we have to be satisfied with the brief foray of this film, which is emotionally and intellectually thinner. To compensate, we get glimpses of some fine paintings and, in a re-enactment of Manet's "Déjeuner sur l'herbe", some fine bare girls. Overall it comes across as watchable but slight, the strong point being the beauty and more than that the poignancy of Greta Scacchi as a bright talented young woman unsure of her direction.
The book said a lot more but we have to be satisfied with the brief foray of this film, which is emotionally and intellectually thinner. To compensate, we get glimpses of some fine paintings and, in a re-enactment of Manet's "Déjeuner sur l'herbe", some fine bare girls. Overall it comes across as watchable but slight, the strong point being the beauty and more than that the poignancy of Greta Scacchi as a bright talented young woman unsure of her direction.