Plot
The film is set in France in 1956, 33 years after the death of Mansfield and a year before Murry’s own death. Murry visits André de Sarry a (fictional) French publisher who is about to publish an edition of her collected letters and journals. Murry is presented as struggling with his conscience as he recalls the ill and alone Mansfield (seen in flashbacks), and decides to publish almost all of her work. de Sarry’s New Zealand partner Marie Taylor reads Mansfield’s work and among Middleton Murry’s papers finds a letter to him from the dying Mansfield. She confronts him as "another exploitative male" who makes a sanctimonious speech at the book launch. The letter from Mansfield says (rather ambiguously): ::''I should like him to publish as little as possible …He will understand that I desire to leave as few traces of my camping ground as possible .... All my manuscripts I leave entirely to you to do what you like with .... Please destroy all letters you do not wish to keep and all papers .... Have a clean sweep.... and leave all fair, will you.''Cast
* John Gielgud as John Middleton Murry * Jane Birkin as both Katherine Mansfield and Marie Taylor * Féodor Atkine as André de Sarry * Simon Ward as young John (John Jeune) * as Lisa * Maurice Chevit as Alain *Film reception
Helen Martin says the film is "beautifully shot in the European tradition" and it was described at the London Film Festival as "arguably the best film to come out of New Zealand so far", but others criticised the portrayal of Middleton Murry as "simplifying the KM/Murry relationship into a cliché". '' Variety'' said it was "an affecting experience".References
External links
* {{IMDb title, id=0089467, name=''Leave All Fair''