BBC Play of the Month (TV Series) The Wild Duck (1971) User Reviews

If you ever get a chance, grab it for Jenny Agutter's greatest performance

[Tahhh · 8/10 · 4 November 2006]

I saw this, when it first aired on American television, long ago...and what stays with me forever after was the amazing performance of Jenny Agutter as Hedvig.

It's all a play, until she appears, and suddenly, it's all real--until she leaves the stage again, and then it becomes a costume play again.

Everyone I remember talking this over with had exactly the same impression: all we could talk about was her incredibly touching performance, and how utterly drawn into the reality of her character all of us were.

I've never seen it again; and I've never forgotten it.

And while I rushed to see Jenny Agutter in other films, once I'd seen The Wild Duck, I've never seen her play another role which I thought was done to such perfection.

I guess it's a little like Patti Duke's portrayal of the young Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker"...even if she would never play another role so well, so superb was that one performance, that she'll never be forgotten.

You try to see this, and tell me if I'm not remembering it right, after all these years.

portrait of the collapse of a family

[didi-5 · 7/10 · 15 January 2009]

'The Wild Duck', a TV play starring Denholm Elliott, Rosemary Leach, Christopher Benjamin, Derek Godfrey, and Jenny Agutter, is a fine example of the work of Henrik Ibsen, and beautifully performed, especially by the young Agutter (around the same time she did the much better remembered 'The Railway Children').

Like many dramas from writers of the same time such as Chekhov, there is an idyllic life ready to be shattered by someone who seems to mean well - with this in mind, we can see that the ending may not be a happy one, and can probably guess the revelations that tear the family apart. Still, it is well played, and well worth seeing, especially now it has a long overdue DVD release.

Perfection

[Fellwanderer · 10/10 · 10 April 2008]

I can only echo the words of the previous reviewer.

The performance of Jenny Agutter is simply superb, touching innocence can never have been better portrayed - unless it was her own performance in The Snow Goose.

I first saw this on a B/W television while at university back in 1971 and never forgot it. For years I have searched for it and only a chance comment allowed me to eventually track it down.

Finally, today, I was able to watch it in colour as part of the Henrik Ibsen Collection.

What a shame the BBC don't make it available in the UK, either as part of a set or actually televise it once more!

Love this production

[maryannhwrd · 10/10 · 4 November 2013]

I adored Jenny Agutter's wonderful performance as Hedvig. She was so perfectly natural and endearing--totally believable. I wanted to adopt her.

I thought Denholm Elliott's presentation was subtle and flawless, and Rosemary Leach was wonderful in her perfectly understated delivery of Gina's character. Derek Godfrey was ideal for Gregers.

I did have trouble catching some of the dialog, maybe because of the British accents. I loved the production enough to read Ibsen's play, and caught a lot of it that way. The elder Mr. Ekdal's mumblings were great to read (he mumbled on purpose and injected a lot of insight and humor).

The parts of the script that were left out of the TV play added to my understanding of the characters, which I firmly believe were honestly portrayed by each of the actors.

I have the Ibsen Collection, and if anything happened to the disc with The Wild Duck on it, I would gladly buy the whole collection again just for this play.

Lifeless Rendition of a Fine Play

[TheHighVoltageMessiah · 23 August 2011]

The Wild Duck is a great play, to be sure – make no mistake about that. But this production is a remarkably tedious one.

The performances appear sapped of nearly all emotions. Dialogue is reduced to a haze of muttering voices that can easily be drowned out by the hiss of a teakettle or background chatter. It's as though the actors are simply reading their lines without bothering to invest any passion into them. In this way important points and revelations slide by like off-hand comments and as such have little impact. So bored and droll is the delivery of most of the cast that they might as well be making idle chitchat over tea. Even at the end – when a tragedy of tragedies has occurred and one would expect the character of Hjalmar Ekdal to sob, convulse, at least do SOMETHING close to human – all Denholm Elliott can muster is a listless recitation of his lines that leaves the viewers coldly detached from the action. If the actors don't seem to care about what they are saying, why then should the audience?

One exception, as other reviewers have commented, is the young Jenny Agutter who manages a performance as Hedvig Ekdal that is agonizing, wrenching, and true. Amongst a horde of zombie-like, apparently disinterested figures she shines with a special spark. Alas, one player is not enough to carry the entire presentation on her shoulders. Overall, this version of The Wild Duck remains lackluster. Henrik Ibsen's play deserves better than this.