The mediator

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Movie
German title The mediator
Original title The go-between
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1971
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Joseph Losey
script Harold Pinter
production John Heyman
Denis Johnson
Norman Priggen
music Michel Legrand
camera Gerry Fisher
cut Reginald Beck
occupation

Der Mittler (OT: The Go-Between) is a British feature film from 1971. The film is based on the 1953 novel The Go-Between (also: The Customs of Luck or A Summer in Brandham Hall) by LP Hartley . The script was written by Harold Pinter .

action

The film is set in England in the summer of 1900 . 12-year-old Leo Colston spends his summer holidays with his school friend Marcus' family. Leo is in love with his older sister Marian, who takes great care of him. Leo and Marian want to go swimming. They meet Ted Burgess at a lake. When Marcus falls ill, Leo wanders around alone. When he has a minor accident, Ted Burgess takes care of him and asks Leo to deliver a message to beautiful Marian. Marian later asks Leo to hand Ted a message. And so the boy becomes the mediator between the two. When Marian's mother learns of the correspondence, Marian first draws up a story of lies; the letters were not meant for her. When the mother finally finds out that Marian has not told her the truth, she forces Leo to show her the way to Ted Burgess. Once there, they find Marian and Ted just having sex with each other.

50 years later Leo and Marian are old people. Marian has another request to Leo. May he visit her grandson and tell him the story of that time. Marian's grandson bears a striking resemblance to Ted Burgess, and it turns out that Marian was pregnant with Ted at the time, but Ted took his own life when their relationship was revealed. The pregnant Marian was forced to marry Hugh Trimingham.

background

After Der Diener (1963) and Accident - Incident in Oxford (1967), The Mediator is the third and final collaboration between director Joseph Losey and the playwright Harold Pinter. The novel is based on the year 1953.

Reviews

“The story of an adolescent trauma expanded into an unmasking analysis of upper-class feudal rituals; a nuanced, encrypted and very artificially designed film in oppressive decorations that are cleverly used as a stylistic device. "

- " Lexicon of International Films " (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997

“Losey… staged this superficially cheerful story in tightly designed sequences, with a rapid narrative flow and skillful cuts as an abysmal tragic comedy. (Rating: 3 stars, very good) "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in the lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring , Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , pp. 575-576

Awards

Joseph Losey won the main prize ("Grand Prix") at the Cannes Film Festival in 1971 with this film . The film also received four British Film Awards in 1972 . Also was Margaret Leighton for her role as Marian's mother for an Oscar in the category supporting actress best nominated.

The British Film Institute voted The Mediator in 1999 at number 57 among the best British films of the 20th century .

literature

Web links