Rating of
2.5/4
Not quite a mistire but it's no masterpiece.
Indyfreak - wrote on 03/19/20
RYAN'S DAUGHTER has entered film history as a sort of misunderstood classic or a flawed masterpiece. Hugely successful at the box office during its run but maligned by critics, led by the hateful Pauline Kael, it made director David Lean quit the film business for fourteen years.
Having seen it, yeah the critics were too mean. But I kind of get what they're driving at. The movie is lavishly made and it's clear David Lean wanted to make a glorious romantic epic in the vein of his earlier hit DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. Except moving the action from revolutionary Russia to 1910s Ireland.
The story concept is tantalizing if salacious for this genre: a stubborn Irish woman (whoops tautology) has an affair with a British officer, a severely taboo relationship given the tensions between the English and the Irish. The idea isn't bad. But the movie is VERY long-206 minutes in fact.
Sarah Miles is honestly good casting as the strong willed Rosy Ryan who's alluring but impetuous. On paper, Robert Mitchum might had been interesting casting as her cuckolded husband. But he looks out of place and dramatic moments meant to be shocking on his part come across as silly. Christopher Jones is every bit the disaster as written about in secondary sources about the movie. He doesn't talk much and is very wooden when he does. Trevor Howard nearly saves the movie with an animated performance as the morally upright minister. It's inexplicable how John Mills won an Oscar for playing a retard in such a cartoonish manner.
Given that this is a David Lean production, the movie looks beautiful. There is very little in the way of action though for impatient viewers. The affair itself doesn't happen until halfway through a 3.5 hour running time. Like other Lean movies, it does seem like he was more fascinated in recreating a lost era of history and having audiences view it through a smaller lens than what is typical for historical films. That's a nice gesture and from a design standpoint, it pays off. But it does result in a slow viewing experience.
This movie will try a lot of people's patience and I can't argue it's a good movie. But its backstory and its insistence that no expense shall be spared for what is ultimately a small personal story is fascinating.
