The Ebony Tower

This is an early TV-version of one of John Fowles' greatest stories, the first and longest in his collection of the same name from 1974. All highly recommended reading. And perhaps it belongs to a genre better read in retreat, than seen on any screen. Though the effort to make a film of it deserves attention, if not else just because of the archetypal abyss of the story. The main drawback is that Olivier is terribly miscast. The great ham is no ailing but still dangerously masculine and sharp old Man, as the painter Henry Breasley is supposed to be. Someone like Richard Harris might have been a more congenial choice for the role. And even Roger Rees seems somewhat too anemic here. While Greta Scacchi is pretty perfect. I'd buy it on DVD anytime, if it was available by itself and not just as a bonus in an Olivier collection..

Nice setting of an old French manor in summer inhabited by an old dragon of a painter (Olivier) and two maidens, former art students, that he has ensnared (Scacchi and Wilcox). Into his realm to interview him comes not a knight errant but a self-satisfied example of the modern world (Rees). One of the girls, shy but gifted, wonders whether to escape with him and rejoin the world. Before the end she realises he is not worth it. The book said a lot more but we have to be satisfied with the brief foray of this film, which is emotionally and intellectually thinner. To compensate, we get glimpses of some fine paintings and, in a re-enactment of Manet's "Déjeuner sur l'herbe", some fine bare girls. Overall it comes across as watchable but slight, the strong point being the beauty and more than that the poignancy of Greta Scacchi as a bright talented young woman unsure of her direction.