Ryan's Daughter

''Ryan's Daughter'' is a 1970 British epic romantic drama film directed by David Lean and written by Robert Bolt. Loosely inspired by Gustave Flaubert's 1857 novel ''Madame Bovary'', the film stars Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles as a married Irish couple whose lives are upended when the wife begins an affair with a British officer during World War I. Set in a remote coastal village in Ireland between August 1917 and January 1918, the film explores themes of love, betrayal, and political unrest amid rising nationalist tensions. The supporting cast includes John Mills, Christopher Jones, Trevor Howard, and Leo McKern.

The film was released theatrically in 1970 and was photographed in Super Panavision 70 by cinematographer Freddie Young, with a score composed by Maurice Jarre. Although met with largely negative reviews from critics upon its initial release, it emerged as a commercial success, grossing nearly $31 million against a production budget of $13.3 million, making it the eighth-highest grossing film of the year.Hall, S. and Neale, S. ''Epics, spectacles, and blockbusters: a Hollywood history'' (p. 181). Wayne State University Press, Detroit; 2010; . Retrieved 25 March 2011.

''Ryan's Daughter'' received four nominations at the 43rd Academy Awards and won in two categories – Best Supporting Actor for Mills and Best Cinematography for Young.

Plot

In August 1917, Rosy Ryan, the only daughter of pub owner Thomas Ryan, grows restless in the quiet Irish village of Kirrary on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. The village is strongly nationalist, hostile to the British soldiers stationed nearby. Although Thomas outwardly supports Irish independence, he secretly acts as an informer for the British. Rosy, yearning for excitement, becomes romantically involved with the village schoolteacher, widower Charles Shaughnessy. Despite his warnings that he cannot offer her a passionate life, they marry and move into the schoolhouse, where his emotional reserve and lack of physical affection disappoint her.

Major Randolph Doryan, a decorated British officer suffering from shell shock and a leg injury sustained in World War I, arrives to take command of the local army camp. When he collapses in the pub during a flashback, Rosy comforts him. This sparks a passionate affair between the two, which begins in earnest during a secluded ride to the forest. Charles grows suspicious but remains silent.

While taking his students to the beach, Charles notices two sets of footprints—Doryan's and a woman's—leading to a nearby cave. He imagines Rosy and the Major together, confirming his suspicions. The footprints are also seen by Michael, a mentally disabled villager, who enters the cave and finds Doryan's Victoria Cross. Michael parades through the village with the medal, attracting ridicule. Rosy, disturbed by the scene, approaches him compassionately, unintentionally revealing her involvement. The villagers, piecing the events together, begin to suspect Rosy's infidelity.

One stormy night in January 1918, Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) member Tim O'Leary and his men arrive in the village seeking help in recovering a shipment of German arms. After assisting them, Thomas Ryan secretly alerts the British authorities. The villagers, including Ryan himself, join in the recovery effort, unaware of his betrayal. As the villagers celebrate their success in freeing the truck carrying the weapons, British troops led by Doryan ambush the group. Doryan fatally shoots O'Leary before collapsing from another flashback. Rosy rushes to his side, further enraging the townspeople.

Later, Charles confronts Rosy, admitting that he had hoped her affair would pass but now wishes to separate. Rosy insists it is over, yet that night she visits Doryan once more. Charles, disheartened, wanders to the beach and is found by the local priest, Father Collins. Meanwhile, a mob led by Mr. McCardle storms the schoolhouse, seizes Rosy, and publicly humiliates her, accusing her of betraying the arms operation. Thomas Ryan watches in silent remorse as they cut off her hair, stopping only when Father Collins intervenes.

The next morning, Doryan encounters Michael on the beach and gifts him a cigarette case. In gratitude, Michael shows him a hidden cache of dynamite. Left alone, Doryan uses the explosives to commit suicide. Later, Charles and Rosy leave the village for Dublin. As Father Collins and Michael accompany them to the bus, the priest tells Charles that his only remaining doubt mirrors Charles's own: whether he and Rosy should remain together.

Cast

Production

Development

''Ryan's Daughter'' began as screenwriter Robert Bolt's adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's 1857 novel ''Madame Bovary'', with the intention of casting his wife, Sarah Miles, in the lead role. The script retained the novel's central narrative: a romantic young woman trapped in an unfulfilling marriage who seeks passion through extramarital affairs. Director David Lean, who had previously collaborated with Bolt on '' Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962) and '' Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), was initially uninterested in the French setting and period. According to later accounts, Lean told Bolt he found the story "uninteresting," but proposed reworking its emotional themes in a different context.

Lean and Bolt subsequently reimagined the story within a politically charged Irish setting during the final year of World War I. The revised screenplay retained the structural parallels to Flaubert's novel: Rosy Ryan became an analogue to Emma Bovary; Charles Shaughnessy mirrored the reserved and uninspiring husband Charles Bovary; and Major Randolph Doryan embodied aspects of both Rodolphe and Léon, Emma's lovers. Relocating the narrative to a coastal village in County Kerry during the aftermath of the Easter Rising allowed Bolt to incorporate themes of colonial tension, repression, and nationalism, which added further dimension to Rosy's personal transgressions.

The reworked setting also aligned with Lean's visual sensibilities, allowing for elaborate location shooting and atmospheric cinematography. The combination of Bolt's focus on morally conflicted individuals and Lean's emphasis on sweeping visual storytelling shaped the tone and scale of the project. Despite early enthusiasm, the production was later affected by tensions and creative difficulties. It marked the final collaboration between Lean and Bolt; the partnership ended when Bolt suffered a major stroke shortly before the film's release in 1970, significantly limiting his ability to work thereafter.

Casting

The role of Father Collins was initially written for Alec Guinness, a frequent collaborator of director David Lean. However, Guinness declined the part, citing concerns over the portrayal of a Catholic priest and lingering tensions from their previous collaboration on '' Doctor Zhivago'' (1965). Trevor Howard was subsequently cast in the role.

For the character of Charles Shaughnessy, Lean's first choice was Paul Scofield, who had to decline due to prior theatrical commitments. Other actors considered included George C. Scott, Anthony Hopkins, and Patrick McGoohan, though none were formally approached. Gregory Peck expressed interest but withdrew after Robert Mitchum was offered the role.

Mitchum was initially hesitant to accept the role, reportedly due to personal issues. When pressed by Lean, he disclosed that he was contemplating suicide. Screenwriter Robert Bolt, upon hearing this, encouraged Mitchum to complete the film first, even offering to cover his burial expenses if he still felt the same afterward.

The role of Major Randolph Doryan was originally intended for Marlon Brando, who accepted but later withdrew due to scheduling conflicts with the film ''Burn!'' (1969). Lean then cast American actor Christopher Jones after seeing his performance in '' The Looking Glass War'' (1969), believing Jones possessed a James Dean-like quality suitable for the role.

Filming

Principal photography for ''Ryan's Daughter'' commenced in the spring of 1969 on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The region's rugged coastline and remote villages provided an authentic backdrop for the film's World War I-era setting. However, persistent inclement weather posed significant challenges, particularly for the pivotal storm sequence. Director David Lean waited nearly a year for suitable storm conditions to film this scene. To protect the camera lens from sea spray during the shoot, cinematographer Freddie Young employed a Clear view screen—a rotating glass disk mounted in front of the lens to keep it clear of moisture.

Due to ongoing weather issues in Ireland, the production relocated to Arniston, South Africa, to film several beach scenes. The area's distinctive white sand beaches are visibly different from Ireland's darker shores. The dramatic final scene, where Major Doryan commits suicide using explosives, was filmed at the site of the ''Kakapo'' shipwreck on Noordhoek Beach, just south of Cape Town.

The production faced numerous difficulties, leading to a schedule overrun of more than 185 days. Robert Mitchum, who played Charles Shaughnessy, reportedly clashed with Lean over the director's meticulous approach, likening the experience to "constructing the Taj Mahal out of toothpicks." Despite the tensions, Mitchum later expressed that he considered his role in ''Ryan's Daughter'' among his best performances.

Christopher Jones, cast as Major Randolph Doryan, also experienced challenges during production. He claimed to have had an affair with actress Sharon Tate shortly before her murder by the Manson Family, an event that deeply affected him. Jones's relationship with co-star Sarah Miles deteriorated, leading to difficulties during the filming of their love scenes. According to some accounts, Miles and Mitchum conspired to secretly administer a sedative to Jones to facilitate the filming of an intimate scene, resulting in Jones appearing nearly catatonic during the shoot.

Jones's performance was further complicated by his inability to convincingly adopt a British accent. Consequently, director Lean decided to have all of Jones's lines overdubbed by actor Julian Holloway in post-production. The negative reception of his performance contributed to Jones's decision to retire from acting shortly after the film's release.

Release

MPAA Rating

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) initially assigned ''Ryan's Daughter'' an "R" rating, citing a nude scene between Sarah Miles and Christopher Jones and the film's thematic focus on infidelity as the primary reasons. At the time, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was experiencing financial difficulties and appealed the rating, not on artistic grounds but for commercial viability.

During the appeal, MGM executives argued that a less restrictive rating was essential to ensure broader audience access and box office viability. The MPAA board granted the appeal, and the film was reclassified with a "GP" rating, a designation that was later renamed "PG". Jack Valenti, then-president of the MPAA, later referred to this reclassification as one of the "tarnishing marks" on the credibility of the rating system. In 1996, when the film was resubmitted to the MPAA, it was re-rated "R".

In Australia and New Zealand, ''Ryan's Daughter'' was originally classified PG, but the rating was later revised to M.

Reception

Box office

''Ryan's Daughter'' opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on 9 November 1970, earning $50,050 in its first week. Within two months of release, the film had grossed over $2 million worldwide. It performed moderately well internationally and became one of the highest-grossing films of 1970 in the United Kingdom, where it ran continuously at a West End cinema for nearly two years.

Critical reception

Upon release, ''Ryan's Daughter'' received a largely negative response from critics, many of whom expressed disappointment given director David Lean's prior acclaim. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, ''Ryan's Daughter'' holds an approval rating of 47% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10.

Roger Ebert awarded the film two out of four stars, remarking that although the characters were "well written and well acted," they were ultimately "dwarfed by ean'sexcessive scale." Vincent Canby of ''The New York Times'' dismissed the screenplay as "the kind of book-club fiction that should be read under a hair-dryer," and criticized the film's elaborate production and metaphysical style. Arthur D. Murphy of ''Variety'' described it as "a brilliant enigma," praising its ambition but noting that the excessive length diluted the impact of both the performances and Robert Bolt's screenplay. Gene Siskel of the ''Chicago Tribune'' gave it one-and-a-half stars out of four, citing "poor casting," "heavy-handed direction," and "empty-headed characters." Charles Champlin of the ''Los Angeles Times'' found the central love story too "frail and banal" to support the film's 198-minute runtime. Pauline Kael of ''The New Yorker'' wrote that there was "no artistic or moral rationale" for the film, describing its overall effect as empty.

James Wolcott later recounted that at a National Society of Film Critics gathering, ''Time'' critic Richard Schickel bluntly asked Lean how he could follow ''Brief Encounter'' (1945) with "a piece of bullshit like ''Ryan's Daughter''." Some retrospective assessments have attributed the negative reception to heightened expectations following Lean's earlier epics. The film's original cut exceeded 220 minutes and was criticized for pacing, prompting Lean to remove approximately 17 minutes prior to general release. Although Lean took the criticism personally and claimed he would not direct again, some historians suggest that subsequent unrealized projects were the result of production difficulties rather than creative reluctance.

The film was also criticised for its depiction of Irish villagers. In a 2008 commentary, one Irish writer described the townspeople as "herd-like and libidinous," lacking meaningful employment. Others viewed the film as diminishing the legacy of the 1916 Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence, particularly as it coincided with the beginning of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Retrospective reviews have continued to view ''Ryan's Daughter'' less favorably than Lean's earlier work. ''Variety'' referred to it as "overlong," ''The Times'' described it as "a weary ''Madame Bovary'' rehash," and Ebert later called it "a lush and overblown self-indulgence in which David Lean has given us a great deal less than meets the eye." John Mills' performance as the mentally challenged character, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, has drawn ambivalence in later years. A 2020 review of ''Making Ryan's Daughter: The Myths, Madness and Mastery'' in ''The Irish Times'' characterized both the production and the film as "a fascinating but ultimately indulgent and doomed enterprise."

Accolades

Others

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
* 2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated

References

Further reading

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External links

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''Ryan's Daughter'' at AllMovie
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British Film Institute on Ryan's Daughter

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1970 films
1970 romantic drama films
1970s English-language films
1970s historical drama films
British epic films
British historical drama films
British romantic drama films
Easter Rising
Films about the Irish Republican Army
Films based on Madame Bovary
Films directed by David Lean
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award–winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe winning performance
Films produced by Anthony Havelock-Allan
Films scored by Maurice Jarre
Films set in 1917
Films set in Ireland
Films set on beaches
Films set on the United Kingdom home front during World War I
Films shot in County Kerry
Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award
Films with screenplays by Robert Bolt
Historical epic films
Romantic epic films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
1970s British films
English-language historical drama films
Films about disability
English-language romantic drama films