What's it all about, Freddie? A young woman restlessly tries to find happiness of some sort but doesn't, can't. Why? What in fact is she looking for? Is the old writer that Dirk Bogarde interviews a key here? She says she doesn't understand their conversation, is just happy to be accepted. Fred Raphael has a great way of writing empty headed conversation, the intelligentsia (with a barbed fork) and the muddles people make of their lives.
It has a great momentum, through the writing and Jim Clark's catch-me-if-you-can editing. Though it does go on a bit. There's a most peculiar moment where a couple make love in front of guests; then a bizarre party where it looks like everyone is on drugs (but isn't shown that way) - the empty trappings of the rich and infamous. In that 'Darling' achieves some sort of fame through doing nothing and being talentless, the film is actually even more relevant today than it was in the sixties.
I mean, you just know that things like the charity dinner, with black youths being used as colonial serving boys, is a very deliberate jibe which you'll find in Fred's original screenplay. (Plus talk of famine as some plump society dame chomps food.)
It's pretty clear she doesn't really enjoy sex. What does she enjoy? What's it all about, Freddie?
'I remember John calling me from New York after the premiere and saying, "Well, dear, it's a hit. Don't ask me why, but they love it." ' Jim Clark, Dream Repairman. (Which also answers Q's good question - was Schlesinger 'out'? Yes indeedy. Jim also thought it went on a bit.
Malcolm Cooke is the sound editor. Kenneth Higgins shot it
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