Cheat (1983)

Movie
German title	Amounted to
Original title	Betrayal
Country of production	United Kingdom
original language	English
Publishing year	1983
length	95 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	David Jones
script	Harold Pinter
production	Sam Spiegel
music	Dominic Muldowney
camera	Mike Fash
cut	John Bloom
occupation
Jeremy Irons : Jerry Ben Kingsley : Robert Patricia Hodge : Emma Avril Elgar : Mrs. Banks Ray Marioni : Waiter Caspar Norman : Sam Chloe Billington : Charlotte (5 years) Hannah Davies : Charlotte (9 years) Michael König: Ned (2 years) Alexander McIntosh : Ned (5 years)

Fraud ( OT Betrayal ) is a British film drama from the year 1983 . Directed by David Jones , Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay and adapted his play of the same name, which has been internationally successful since 1978. The play is based on Pinter's seven-year affair (1962-1969) with television presenter Joan Bakewell , who was married to producer and director Michael Bakewell, while Pinter was then married to actress Vivien Merchant . Oscar and Olivier award winners Jeremy Irons , Ben Kingsley and Patricia Hodge played the leading roles .

action

Emma and her husband Robert have been arguing lately. Robert tells her about a secret affair with another woman. A short time later she is sitting with Jerry in a restaurant and they are talking about their previous secret affair. It turns out that Emma told Robert a long time ago. Jerry asks Robert to talk to him that evening. As it turns out, Robert has known not just yesterday, but four years since the two ended the affair.

Two years earlier:
Jerry and Emma want to sell the apartment they bought for their pleasure. Emma doesn't want any money from the proceeds. After the conversation, she gives Jerry the apartment key and leaves.

A year earlier:
Jerry and Robert talk while Emma puts her son to bed. Then Emma joins them.

A year earlier:
Emma and Robert are on vacation in Venice and have a long conversation.

When they are back home, Emma immediately drives to the "secret" apartment to meet Jerry. They talk. Later, Jerry and Robert meet for lunch in a restaurant and chat.

Two years earlier:
Jerry and Emma meet in the "secret" apartment. They remember that someone might have noticed something about the affair and ask each other if either of them was unfaithful to the other. Emma tells Jerry that she is pregnant by Robert.

Two years earlier:
Jerry's family is away and Jerry and Emma are sitting in his house. They kiss.

The next morning Emma is sitting at the table with her daughter Charlotte, then the phone rings. Robert says he'll come later. Immediately after she hangs up, Jerry calls and they meet on the same day.

Jerry and Emma secretly buy an apartment for their pleasure.

A year earlier:
Jerry and Emma get closer at a party.

background

The film was produced by the production company Horizon Pictures .

Awards

• 1983: National Board of Review for Best Picture and Top Ten Films
• 1984: Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor for Ben Kingsley
• 1984: Nomination for the British Academy Film Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
• 1984: Nomination for an Oscar in the category Best Adapted Screenplay

criticism

The lexicon of international films described the film as “extraordinary in its radically bitter-ironic narrative attitude and the artful dialogue technique”, the underlying concept being “[t] heatralic”. Furthermore, the production is "played intensely throughout".

Trivia

• Tom Bell and Ian McKellen have applied for the role of Robert .
• Helen Mirren and Patricia Hodge were both tested for the role of Emma. Producer Sam Spiegel ended up choosing Hodge because Mirren was too fat.
• The original Broadway production Cheating by Harold Pinter was released on January 5, 1980 at the Trafalgar Theater and ran through May 31 of that year. There were two revivals, November 14, 2000 through February 4, 2001 and October 27, 2013 through January 5, 2014. It ran a total of around 170 performances on Broadway .
• The film was released five years after Harold Pinter's 1978 play of the same name on which the film is based.
• The film and play inspired an episode (season 9, episode 8) of the American sitcom Seinfeld , which first aired on November 20, 1997 under the title The Betrayal .
• Final theatrical film by experienced Hollywood producer Sam Spiegel.

Web links

• Fraud in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Billington , Harold Pinter , rev. and expanded ed. (1996; London: Faber and Faber , 2007) 264-67.
2. ^ Joan Bakewell , The Center of the Bed (London: Hodder & Stoughton , 2003). ISBN 0-340-82310-0 . (Two chapters deal with the relationship and affair with Pinter.)
3. ↑ Film information , accessed on May 13, 2015.
4. ↑ Awards , Retrieved May 9, 2015.
5. ↑ Fraud. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 15, 2015 .