Sunday Bloody Sunday

Another day, another great talent departs; Glenda Jackson was a household name in the UK, not only as an award-winning actress, but also as an outspoken activist and even an member of parliament for some 13 years; she was a great example of someone who had integrity to burn, but also a performer who became somewhat out of step with the increasingly commercialised nature of film. A great sport, she made a fearsome Cleopatra for tens of millions watching the Morecambe and Wise show, and gave one of her best performances in 1971’s ground-breaking and intense Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Written by film critic Penelope Gilliat, and directed by John Schlesinger on the back of his US hit Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday is a tight, Pinter-esque drama about what was considered an outré subject in the day, a love triangle between a woman and two men. While Peter Finch’s suave Jewish GP Daniel stares glumly at fountains, his selfish sculptor lover Bob (Murray Head) is entertaining Alex (Glenda Jackson); as the triangle twists and turns, it’s soon obvious that hurt and disappointment lies in store for all three.

Stepping nimbly away from the expected melodrama, Schlesinger’s film contains little action, just a succession of small, perfectly observed moments, from the doctor’s unrewarded help for a desperate addict (Jon Finch) who was a previous lover to the unexpected death of a children’s dog. Gloomy yet glamorous, Sunday Bloody Sunday may depict sexual mores of a bygone era, but the situation is describes feels timeless in the hands of gifted film-makers.

Jackson picked up another Oscar nomination for her work here, but by the 80’s, had returned to the UK after a string of less significant Hollywood roles and recovered herself as a stage performer; I went along to see her give a monumental turn in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage at the Glasgow Citizens back in 1989. Jackson’s death was something of a surprise in that she’s only just completed a film with Michael Caine, the yet-to-be-released The Great Escaper. If nothing else, she was a firebrand as a person and as a performer, setting a high bar by being on the right side of many political issues, on and off-screen.