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Ryan's Daughter

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Ryan's Daughter
Directed byDavid Lean
Written byRobert Bolt
Produced byAnthony Havelock-Allan
StarringRobert Mitchum
Sarah Miles
John Mills
Christopher Jones
Leo McKern
CinematographyFreddie Young
Music byMaurice Jarre
Distributed byMGM Pictures
Release dates
9 November, 1970 (premiere)
Running time
195 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15,000,000

Ryan's Daughter is David Lean's 1970 film which tells the story of an Irish girl who has an affair with a British soldier during World War I, despite opposition from her nationalist neighbours. The film is a very loose adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary.

The film stars Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, John Mills, Christopher Jones, Trevor Howard, and Leo McKern, with a music score by Maurice Jarre. It was photographed in Super Panavision 70 by Freddie Young.

Plot

The film takes place in an isolated village on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland during World War I. The townspeople are nationalist and exclusionary, taunting British soldiers from a nearby army base and the village idiot Michael (John Mills), and are resentful of Rosy Ryan (Sarah Miles), the spoiled daughter of the local publican Tom Ryan (Leo McKern), who acts as an informer for the British.

Rosy is bored with her complacent life and fantasizes about the outside world - much to the chagrin of the local priest, Father Hugh Collins (Trevor Howard). Rosy falls in love with the local schoolmaster, Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum), who has come back from a trip to Dublin. Rosy imagines that Shaughnessy will be able to add excitement to her life, but Shaughnessy tries to convince her otherwise. The two ultimately marry, but Rosy quickly becomes discontent with her marriage, though she doesn't understand why.

Later on, Major Randolph Doryan (Christopher Jones) arrives to take command of the local Army base. A veteran of World War I, he was awarded a Victoria Cross for valour in action, but he suffers from a crippled leg and from shell shock. He meets Rosy in the pub, and Rosy is instantly attracted to him. Michael is also present and absent-mindedly bangs his leg on the wall, causing Doryan to have a flashback to the trenches and collapse in a nervous breakdown. After he recovers, he is comforted by Rosy and the two engage in passionate kissing until they are interrupted by the arrival of Ryan and the townspeople. The next day, the two meet in a forest and have a lengthy liaison.

Charles becomes suspicious of Rosy, but keeps his suspicions to himself. While on a trip to the beach with his students he finds footprints from Rosy and Doryan and tracks them to a cave; later he finds a conch shell in Rosy's dresser, but refuses to confront her about it. However, Michael has also seen the two lovers, and having stolen Doryan's uniform he is able to inform the townspeople of the affair. The townspeople instantly turn on Rosy, deriding her as a "British officer's whore".

Slea Head, on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland where Ryan's Daughter was filmed.

One night, in the midst of a fierce storm, IRB leader Tim O'Leary (Barry Foster) - who murdered a police constable earlier in the film - and a small gang of comrades arrive in Ryan's pub and strong-arm Ryan into helping them recover a shipment of German arms from the storm. Ryan tips off the British, but helps take part in the recovery of the weapons; soon the entire town arrives at the beach to help. However, O'Leary and his followers are stopped by Major Doryan and his men on the road and arrested. O'Leary is shot by Doryan during an escape attempt, but Doryan has another flashback and collapses. O'Leary is captured, but not before telling Doryan to "Get out of my country!"

Charles tells Rosy that he is aware of her infidelity, but is willing to allow it to "burn out". However, that night, Charles watches Rosy return to Doryan, and the next morning wanders off along the beach in his nightclothes, until he is found by Father Collins, who convinces him to return. Though Rosy declares her affair with Doryan over, Charles has decided to leave Rosy. Then, however, a mob of townspeople arrives, accusing Rosy of having informed the British of the arms shipment, stripping her and shearing off her hair until Father Collins arrives to break them up.

Meanwhile, Doryan is talking a walk along the beach when he comes across Michael, who takes Doryan for his friend. Michael leads Doryan to a cache of arms - including dynamite - that was not recovered, and after Michael runs off, Doryan commits suicide by detonating the explosives.

The next day, Rosy and Charles leave town, being taunted by the villagers as they go. Father Collins tries to convince the two not to end their marriage, and as they get on the bus to Dublin their future together is ambiguous. The film ends with Father Collins and Michael heading back to town.

Critical reception

The film received a very hostile reception by the critical community upon its initial release, who felt that the characters were "dwarfed by [Lean's] excessive scale."[1] Many attribute the bad reviews to critics' expectations being too high as Lean had directed three epic blockbusters in a row prior to making Ryan's Daughter. The bad reaction to this film is what many say caused Lean not to make a film for more than ten years. (Others dispute this, citing the fact that Lean tried but was unable to get several projects off the ground, most notably The Bounty.) The film was moderately successful worldwide at the box office. The film has also come under criticism for its perceived depiction of the Irish proletariat as uncivilised compared to the occupying British forces and the Catholic church. Moreover some have criticised the film as an attempt to blacken the legacy of the 1916 Easter Rising and the subsequent Irish War of Independence in relation to the eruption of the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland at the time of the film's release. Since the film's recent release on DVD, Ryan's Daughter has been re-considered by many critics, and has been claimed by many to be an overlooked masterpiece, levelling many of the criticisms (such as its alleged "excessive scale") in the process. Other elements, such as John Mills' caricature 'village idiot' (ironically an Oscar-winning performance) have withstood the test of time less well.[2][3] However, the film is still not as widely accepted as Lean's other epics, and its critical reputation remains mixed at best.

Primary Cast

Awards

Academy Awards

Also Nominated for

Trivia

  • John Mills played a mute in the film. For his Oscar acceptance speech, he bowed without saying a word, making this the shortest acceptance speech on record.
  • Ryan's Daughter was the last feature film photographed entirely in the 65 mm widescreen format until Far and Away (1992).
  • Alec Guinness turned down the role of Father Collins. The role had been written with him in mind, but Guinness, as a staunch Roman Catholic, objected to what he felt was an inaccurate portrayal of a Catholic priest. His conflicts with Lean while making Doctor Zhivago also contributed.
  • The role of Major Doryan was written for Marlon Brando. Brando accepted, but problems with the production of Burn! forced him to drop out. Lean then saw Christopher Jones in The Looking Glass War (1969) and decided he had to have Jones for the part. However, Lean was dissatisfied with Jones' performance, and he had to be dubbed by Julian Hollaway.
  • Lean had to wait a year before a suitably dramatic storm appeared. The image was kept clear by a glass disk spinning in front of the lens.
  • Leo McKern was injured and badly shaken up while filming the storm sequence, nearly drowning. (At the end of the sequence a large gash on his forehead is clearly visible.) He also disliked the amount of time spent working on the project, and afterwards claimed he would never act again (indeed, he did not act in films or television for several years). His comment on the experience was: "I don't like to be paid £500 a week for sitting down and playing Scrabble." [4]
  • Peter O'Toole was offered a part - conflicting sources say either Michael or Doryan - but declined.
  • Due to bad weather, many of the beach scenes were actually filmed in South Africa.
  • Reportedly, Robert Mitchum became dissatisifed with working on the film and threatened suicide in an attempt to get out of his contract. Upon hearing of this, Robert Bolt said to him: "Well, if you just finish working on this wretched little film and then do yourself in, I'd be happy to stand the expenses of your burial."
  • The village in the film was built by the production company from stone so that it could withstand the storms. Villagers from the town of Dunquin were hired as extras. The area was at the time economically destitute, but the amount of money spent in the town - nearly a million pounds - revived the local economy and led to increased immigration to the Dingle Peninsula.
  • Gerald Sim's character was virtually a bit part in the script, but due to difficulties with Christopher Jones, his scene was re-written so that Sim would say virtually all of the dialogue in the scene.
  • In the scene before Doryan commits suicide, there is a cut from a sunset to Charles striking a match - a sly reference to Lawrence of Arabia, with its famous cut from Peter O'Toole blowing out a match to a sunrise in the desert.
  • Robert Bolt's original idea was to make a film of Madame Bovary, starring Sarah Miles. David Lean read the script and said that he didn't find it interesting, but suggested to Bolt that he would like to rework it into another setting. The film still retains parallels with Flaubert's novel - Rosy is Emma Bovary, Charles is her husband, Major Doryan is Rodolfo and Leon, Emma's lovers.

Other Sources

DVD Reviews


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