''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

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

was brought in as a very late replacement for Richard Burton, who had already shot several scenes. The director,

, 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