''Laughter in the Dark'' (french: La Chambre obscure) is a 1969 French-British
romantic drama
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
film directed by
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones (1963 film ...
and starring
Nicol Williamson
Thomas Nicol Williamson (14 September 1936 – 16 December 2011) was a Scottish actor, once described by playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando". He was also described by Samuel Beckett as "touched by genius" and view ...
and
Anna Karina
Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer; September 22, 1940 – December 14, 2019) .
It was based on
the novel of the same name by
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
.
Plot
For the film, the story's setting was changed from 1930s
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
to the
Swinging London
The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...
of the 1960s.
A wealthy married 40-year-old
art critic
An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...
called Sir Edward More (Nicol Williamson) falls in love with a sixteen-year-old girl called Margot (Anna Karina).
However, she later
cheats on him with another man (Jean-Claude Drouot) which eventually leads to him losing his eyesight while they argue in his car about it and crash into another car when he finds out about it. She continues with the affair but as Edward is now blind, she can have it right in front of him.
Eventually, he finds out about the still ongoing affair and confronts her with a gun. But she fatally shoots him with it and then runs off while his dead body lies on the floor.
Cast
*
Nicol Williamson
Thomas Nicol Williamson (14 September 1936 – 16 December 2011) was a Scottish actor, once described by playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando". He was also described by Samuel Beckett as "touched by genius" and view ...
as Sir Edward More
*
Anna Karina
Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer; September 22, 1940 – December 14, 2019) as Margot
*
Jean-Claude Drouot
Jean Claude Drouot (born 17 December 1938) is a Belgian actor whose career has lasted over a half-century. At the age of twenty-five, he gained widespread fame in the French-speaking world as a result of portraying the title role in the popular ...
as Herve Tourace
*
Peter Bowles as Paul
*
Siân Phillips
Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress. She has performed the title roles in Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler'' and George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan''.
Early life
Phi ...
as Lady Elizabeth More
* Sebastian Breaks as Brian
*
Kate O'Toole as Amelia More
* Edward Gardner as Driver
*
Sheila Burrell as Miss Porly
*
Willoughby Goddard
Willoughby Wittenham Rees Goddard (4 July 1926 – 11 April 2008) was an English actor whose trademark rotund figure was well known on television and in films for more than 40 years.
Biography
Goddard was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire. He pl ...
as Colonel
*
Basil Dignam as Dealer
*
Philippa Urquhart as Philippa
Production
Casting
Nicol Williamson
Thomas Nicol Williamson (14 September 1936 – 16 December 2011) was a Scottish actor, once described by playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando". He was also described by Samuel Beckett as "touched by genius" and view ...
was brought in as a very late replacement for
Richard Burton, who had already shot several scenes. The director,
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones (1963 film ...
, found Burton's lack of punctuality intolerable.
Filming
The film was shot on location in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
.
Release
The film drew respectable reviews, but for reasons that are unclear, it was subsequently removed from distribution. The film has only been shown twice on British television, (in 1974 and 1981 on BBC2), and has not been released on any home video format.
Cancelled remake
Laszlo Papas was slated to direct a 1986 remake of the film which would have starred
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
as Axel Rex and
Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay (born Rebecca Jane Pearch; August 29, 1959) is an American actress and producer. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she starred as Lana in ''Risky Business''. She is known for her role as Debby Huston in the Neil S ...
as the young seductress; De Mornay was replaced by
Maryam d'Abo after disagreements with the director, but ultimately the project went nowhere and the film was never made.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laughter In The Dark
1969 films
1969 drama films
French drama films
British drama films
Films directed by Tony Richardson
Films based on works by Vladimir Nabokov
Films with screenplays by Edward Bond
Films produced by Elliott Kastner
1960s English-language films
1960s British films
1960s French films