In a small London flat, about 1950, Hester Collyer, (RACHEL WEISZ), attempts suicide but is revived. Flashbacks show that she had left her husband, Sir William, (SIMON RUSSELL BEALE), a judge, for Freddie Page, (TOM HIDDLESTON), who was a pilot in the RAF during the Battle of Britain ten years earlier. Their affair was a passionate one.
Leigh as Hester, Kenneth More as Freddie and Eric Portman as Sir William; it's a film that's mysteriously difficult to see these days.
The new version of the play is the work of Terence Davies, and he's made it completely his own - anyone who's seen and admired Davies' DISTANT VOICES STILL LIVES, surely one of the best British films ever made, will instantly recognise the director's themes - the singalong in the pub, the lovers dancing to Jo Stafford singing "Wish You Were Here" (a big hit in the early 50s), Hester and William sheltering on the platform of the Aldwych tube station during the Blitz while a mixed group of Londoners sing "Cockles and Mussels", a half-heard snatch of “Educating Archie” on the radio.
In the earlier film, and on stage, Hester has usually been played by an older actress, but the casting of Rachel Weisz - who is wonderful in the part - adds another dimension to this story of a woman who leaves her comfortable life for a lustful, doomed, relationship with her feckless lover. This beautifully photographed film, which starts with an outstanding long crane shot accompanied by Samuel Barber's haunting violin music, breathes fresh life into what might have been an arcane story from another, not so fashionable, era.

A timeless love story.

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