Frederic Raphael Movies

Paul Mazursky's Coast to Coast features a couple whose marriage is on the rocks. Barnaby (Richard Dreyfuss) and Maxine (Judy Davis) are attempting to salvage what might be left of their broken marriage by taking a road trip together. As they stop at various places and interact with a variety of people, they begin to bridge the wide gap that had taken its toll on their relationship. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Axel Corti directed this historical drama starring Timothy Dalton as King Vittorio Amadeo, a 17th-century Italian monarch who becomes obsessed with the wife of one of his courtiers (Valeria Golino). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

John Madden's sweeping drama After the War tells the tale of a quarter-century relationship between two men who share a similar wartime experience and a similar religious background. Michael Jordan grew up in a well-heeled British family, while Joe Hirsch spent much of his childhood on the run from the Nazis. The two become friends when they are both enrolled at the same school in 1942. They survive anti-Semitic taunts together. Joe grows into a powerful media figure, while Michael becomes a respected man of the arts. The film charts a quarter-century of their history together, detailing a relationship that is equally affectionate and hostile. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This 90-minute drama was made for British television. The chameleon-like Ben Kingsley stars as an ulcerated movie producer. Jeremy Child co-stars as Kingsley's equally overworked agent. The relationship between these two predators is placed in context with the cutthroat world of showbiz. Diane Keen is featured as the requisite woman in the case. Sleeps Six was first telecast in the U.S. over the A&E cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This "classical" BBC series was inspired by the Orestia Trilogy of 5th century Greek playwright Aeschylus, as filtered through the contemporary eyes of prolific British playwrights Frederic Raphael and Kenneth MacLeish. The project boasted an all-star cast, headed by Denis Quilley as Agamemnon, Diana Rigg as Klytamnestra, and Helen Mirren as Cassandra. In keeping with the "trilogy" format, the series was presented in three 75-minute installments. Produced for British television in 1979, The Serpent Son later received limited American airplay courtesy of PBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Continuing his 1970s recreations of classical Hollywood genres and styles, Peter Bogdanovich turned to the literary costume drama with an adaptation of the Henry James novella Daisy Miller. At a Swiss spa, upper-class expatriate American Frederick Winterbourne (Barry Brown) meets pretty, nouveau riche flirt Daisy Miller (Cybill Shepherd); her bratty, xenophobic little brother Randolph (James McMurtry); and her tremulous, nattering mother (Cloris Leachman). Despite warnings from his dowager aunt (Mildred Natwick) about Daisy's recklessness with men, Winterbourne finds himself drawn to her. When he encounters her again in Rome, he tries to convince her that her liberated behavior with an Italian admirer (Duilio Del Prete) may sully her reputation in aristocratic circles. But Winterbourne cannot reconcile his own feelings for Daisy with the manners that he is used to following, nor can he fathom how she may feel about him beneath her veneer of willful coquetry. After society matron Mrs. Walker (Eileen Brennan) ostracizes her, Daisy's final rash action reveals to Winterbourne how his old-fashioned mores may have sealed her fate. With a screenplay by Frederic Raphael and location shooting in Rome and Switzerland, Bogdanovich carefully recreated the rich surroundings and stultifying social strictures of James' story. Despite this well-executed atmosphere, Daisy Miller suffered critically, as Bogdanovich was especially taken to task for casting the amateurish Shepherd in the complex and pivotal role of Daisy. After three consecutive hits with The Last Picture Show (1971), What's Up, Doc? (1972), and Paper Moon (1973), Daisy Miller flopped, beginning Bogdanovich's mid-'70s slide into box-office and critical ignominy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

In preparing his romantic comedy Two For the Road, director Stanley Donen decided to utilize many of the cinematic techniques popularized by the French "nouvelle vague" filmmakers. Jump cutting back and forth in time with seeming abandon, Donen and scriptwriter Frederic Raphael chronicle the 12-year relationship between architect Wallace (Albert Finney) and his wife (Audrey Hepburn). While backpacking through Europe, student Finney falls for lovely music student Jacqueline Bisset, but later settles for Hepburn, another aspiring musician (this vignette served as the launching pad for the film-within-a-film in Francois Truffaut's 1973 classic Day for Night). Once married, Finney and Hepburn go on a desultory honeymoon, travelling in the company of insufferable American tourists William Daniels and Eleanor Bron and their equally odious daughter Gabrielle Middleton. Later on, during yet another road trip, Finney is offered an irresistible job opportunity by Claude Dauphin, which ultimately distances Finney from his now-pregnant wife. Still remaining on the road, the film then details Finney and Hepburn's separate infidelities. The film ends where it begins, with Finney and Hepburn taking still another road vacation, hoping to sew up their unraveling marriage. While critics did nip-ups over Stanley Donen's "revolutionary" nonlinear story-telling techniques, audiences responded to the chemistry between Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, not to mention the unforgettable musical score by Henry Mancini. Note: many TV prints of Two for the Road are edited for content, robbing the viewer of Finney and Hepburn's delightful "Bitch/Bastard" closing endearments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Julie Christie won an Oscar for her portrayal of a bored, amoral fashion model in this cynical melodrama from director John Schlesinger. Following the break-up of a teenage marriage, Diana Scott (Christie) drifts into the world of modeling and acting, where she meets a television news reporter, Robert Gold (Dirk Bogarde), who leaves his family for her and introduces her to a more powerful and wealthy set. Soon Diana meets somebody more attractive: public relations mogul Miles Brand (Laurence Harvey). After briefly leaving and then drifting back into Robert's life, experiencing an orgy and even getting an abortion, Diana eventually leaves the swinging London scene behind and settles down to an unfulfilling if comfortable life as the wife of millionaire Italian widower Cesare (Jose-Luis deVillalonga). Shocking in its day, Darling (1965) won Oscars for its costumes and script from Frederic Raphael. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In this British bedroom farce, Bill Ferguson (Richard Todd), a Scottish travel agent, has a major row with his fiancée Stella (June Thorburn) shortly before leaving for a jaunt through Europe. Considering himself free to do as he pleases, Bill gives keys to his Edinburgh apartment to a number of beautiful women, inviting them to drop by if they happen to be in the neighborhood. When he comes home, Bill and Stella patch things up, which leaves him with a lot of explaining to do when a bevy of curvaceous females from across the continent begin appearing at their doorstep, including Ingrid (Elke Sommer) and Lucille (Nicole Maurey). Richard Todd served as producer as well as star; Frederic Raphael contributed to the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide