Jean Travers (Vanessa Redgrave), a schoolteacher, hosts a dinner party in her cottage. In addition to people Jean knows, there is a stranger present, John Morgan (Tim McInnerny), whom Jean thinks came with her friends Marcia and Stanley Pilborough (Judi Dench and Ian Holm). In fact, Marcia and Stanley merely arrived at the same time as John, a fact revealed the next day when John unexpectedly returns to Jean’s house and commits suicide in front of her. The incident causes Jean to recall a tragic love affair from her teenage years.
Made in 1985, Wetherby was David Hare’s debut as film director. Unfortunately, the film goes to show that, at this point at least, Hare was more confident as a playwright than as a screenwriter or director. The dialogue is stagey; written and delivered in a way that is far better suited to the theatre than to the screen. In particular, the policeman (Stuart Wilson) is an entirely unconvincing character who reminded me of some of Alan Ayckbourn’s most cloying creations. Overall, it’s difficult to see the advantage of Wetherby having been made as a film rather than as a play.
Nevertheless, it’s impossible to deny that Vanessa Redgrave’s performance is extraordinary: it’s a perfectly judged combination of calm, worldliness, dignity, vulnerability and sensuality. Other plusses include the story’s interesting non-linear structure. Refreshingly, it’s not just for the sake of the suspense caused by gradual narrative disclosure; it also enables Hare to illuminate the psychology of the characters by making connections between events past and present. Unfortunately, though, the final act’s “big reveal” isn’t quite as satisfying as it might have been by the time the denouement approaches, it feels like Hare’s already made his point.
Overall Verdict: An imperfect but intriguing film, Wetherby is worth picking up for fans of either David Hare’s or Vanessa Redgrave’s work. Disappointingly, the only special feature on the disc is a gallery of stills from the film.
Special Features:
Stills gallery
Reviewer: Tom René