Themes: Unrequited Love, Life in the Arts, Bohemian Life
Main Cast: Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce, Steven Waddington, Samuel West, Rufus Sewell
Release Year: 1995
Country: FR/UK
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Carrington is the true story of the peculiar love affair between two nonconformists in Victorian England: painter Dora Carrington (Emma Thompson) and author Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce). Dora is a young English artist who is part of the Bloomsbury Group, an assemblage of British writers, painters, and eccentrics that includes the likes of Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster, when she meets Strachey. A confirmed homosexual before meeting Carrington, Strachey inquires who the "ravishing boy" is and discovers that it's a woman. Shocked to discover this, he finds himself captivated by her, and they begin an unusual 17-year love affair/friendship. Strachey (most famous for the groundbreaking book Eminent Victorians) and Dora eventually move in together and have a series of offbeat sexual experiences with other members of the group and sometimes even with the same man; at one juncture, Dora even marries another man. Yet their relationship endures until Strachey's death years later. Pryce was honored as Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
Review
The directorial debut of writer Christopher Hampton, Carrington attempts to explain the all-consuming question of love and its many forms. Previously known for such spectacular screenplays as Dangerous Liasons, Hampton chooses to divide the film into six chapters, each named after the superfluous men that drift into and out of Carrington's life; the technique is an engaging way to show the one unflinching source of love in Carrington's life, Strachey. Hampton's engaging camerawork and lush sets bring to life the artistic and emotional union of his two eccentric leads. He takes care to linger long enough on images that reveal his characters' emotions in full, and never cuts a scene too short. Carrington is a film about the importance and joy of love, in whatever form it may take. ~ Laura Abraham, All Movie Guide
Penelope Wilton - Ottoline Morrell; Peter Blythe - Philip Morrell; Richard Clifford - Clive Bell; Alex Kingston - Frances Partridge; Janet McTeer - Vanessa Bell; Neville Phillips - Court Usher; David Ryall - Mayor; Christopher Birch - Dr. Starkey Smith; Jeremy Northam - Beacus Penrose
Credit
Frank Walsh - Art Director, Chris Thompson - Associate Producer, Penny Rose - Costume Designer, William Booker - First Assistant Director, Guy Travers - First Assistant Director, Timothy T. Lewis - First Assistant Director, Christopher Hampton - Director, George Akers - Editor, Francis Boespflug - Executive Producer, Philippe Carcassonne - Executive Producer, Fabienne Vonier - Executive Producer, Michael Nyman - Composer (Music Score), Peter Lindsay - Musical Direction/Supervision, Christine Beveridge - Makeup, Caroline Amies - Production Designer, Denis Lenoir - Cinematographer, John McGrath - Producer, Ronald Shedlo - Producer, Christopher Hampton - Screenwriter
The score of the film was composed by Michael Nyman. It was primarily based upon his String Quartet No.3, with which Hampton created a temp track, and wanted as a leitmotif for Lytton Strachey. However, there is also newly-composed material for the film, including "Virgin on the roof," which was incorporated into the String Quartet No. 4, and the theme for Mark Gertler, which is derived from 3 Quartets, which was composed at roughly the same time.
