GIRL WITH GREEN EYES

R.J. LaForce
Programming Apprentice, Austin Film Society

GIRL WITH GREEN EYES sets its story in two very distinct locations: the big city of Dublin and the rural countryside of Ireland. It sees the world through the wide, almost comically big eyes of Kate Brady, who moves to Dublin in an attempt to distance herself from the conservative, Catholic upbringing of her childhood.

A PERSONAL STORY

Irish writer Edna O’Brien lived in an oppressive house in a conservative village in West Ireland. Her family abhorred anything that challenged their Catholic values. She described her hometown as “enclosed, fervid, and bigoted.”. O’Brien broke away from her suffocating household and became a pharmaceutical student in Dublin. While there she began to write small articles for the Irish Press as well as other publications. It was not until the 1950’s though, when O’Brien married writer Ernest Gébler and moved to London, that her writing began to be her main pursuit. It was here that she read writers such as Tolstoy and F. Scott Fitzgerald as well as T.S. Eliot and was inspired to write fiction on a grander scale.

In 1960 O’Brien wrote her first novel THE COUNTRY GIRLS, which was an autobiographical tale about O’Brien’s own experiences growing up in a convent in West Ireland. The story revolves around two young schoolgirls, Kate and Baba, who try to live and survive the inevitable political and religious confines of such a childhood. O’Brien’s views regarding her upbringing reflect those of Kate and the sexual freedom Baba exudes only intensifies the author’s discontent with her farm girl adolescence. As O’Brien put it, “I was full of romantic yearnings, coupled with a sense of outrage.” Both of these emotions coalesce in the title characters.

The Irish Catholic population condemned THE COUNTRY GIRLS and its liberal viewpoint on the imprisoning lifestyle of its characters. Priests claimed it was a sin to read O’Brien’s novel and demanded that anyone who had purchased it would help the church in book-burning ceremonies. The vehement backlash the book had in her native country was more amusing to O’Brien than anything else. Her mother told her that women fainted during the events. O’Brien replied it was probably from all the smoke. She gave so little attention to the religious outcry that she wrote two more novels that followed Kate and Baba through their trials with the surrounding conformity of their lives.

The three books were put into a trilogy aptly entitled THE COUNTRY GIRLS. The second novel, THE LONELY GIRL, centers on Kate as she has an affair with a much older, married man. And the final chapter, GIRLS IN THEIR MARRIED BLISS, focuses on Kate and Baba’s failed marriages while living in London. Even though the middle story was much less personal than the others O’Brien decided it would be the best fit for adapting into a film.

NEWCOMER TRIFECTA

The freshman novelist and screenwriter coupled her story with freshman director Desmond Davis. Davis started his career quite modestly. His first dozen or so credits included the not-so-distinguished positions of clapper loader and focus puller. The most notable director he worked for during this two-year stint in the dregs of film production crews was Tony Richardson. One year prior to making his directorial debut with GIRL WITH GREEN EYES he acted as camera operator for Richardson’s most famous work TOM JONES.

Working his way up in the industry led him to connections and scripts, including O’Brien’s screen adaptation of THE LONELY GIRL. Material remains sparse about the collaboration with Davis and O’Brien or what exactly drew Davis to the coming-of-age story of an oppressed Irish Catholic girl. However, it seems fitting considering how O’Brien moved from an living in a society where she was just an unimportant Catholic schoolgirl to becoming respsected author while Davis was moving from focus puller to director in five short years. Also the story fits the films of the British realist movement, which takes up many of Davis’ earlier cinematic credits including LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER. Like many of these films’ protagonists Kate never falls into the norms of the society around her and specifically the position she takes on marriage. Starting an already frowned relationship with an older man who we later find out to still be married displays the complications many of the British films of the time encompassed regarding the Holy union.

The angry man of the movement finds itself in Peter Finch’s cold performance as Eugene, the older, married writer that Kate falls for. His stock, unwavering eyes accentuate the engergetic youth of actress Rita Tushingham, who plays Kate. Much like the characters this is the veteran and the newcomer. The former teaches the other and both work wonders together. The other antithesis of Kate finds its way in the bold, lively Lynn Redgrave whose Baba is one of the movie’s best delights. This trio of actors must have been a dream for Davis to work with. That is not to say that Davis wasn’t in control of his first feature.

When looking at the film now one can see that Davis drew from other films and movements as well. The editing of the opening sequence involving Kate and Baba and their suitors for the night shouts French New Wave, more specifically Godard. Another memorable piece of editing involves a priest condeming Kate for her choices with Eugene. The bold cuts almost feel like those of the moment Michel gets the bullet at the end of BREATHLESS. The blocking of many scenes inside Eugene’s house displays Davis’ love, like that of many directors he worked with, of British theater. Davis’ camera work in a number of other important, well-made films had an impact on his visual style. The film remains gorgeous to look at from the Irish countryside to Dublin’s high-class restaurants. This film may be a debut, but it is apparent that Davis’ years of work behind the camera amounted to a vast knowledge that most director’s lack in first features.

Davis did not stop telling O’Brien’s story with GIRL WITH GREEN EYES. In 1984 he directed a made-for-TV movie that spanned O’Brien’s whole trilogy entitled THE COUNTRY GIRLS, which was also adapted by O’Brien. Despite his most famous work, CLASH OF THE TITANS being a giant cinematic epic, Davis spent most of his time in television after GIRL WITH GREEN EYES. Most of it involving adaptations and filming of plays which allowed him to use his skills at all levels of production.

So GIRL WITH GREEN EYES can not only be seen as a young woman trying to break away and find her own solace in love and freedom. O’Brien’s story mirrors her own career breaking away from her youthful oppression as well as Davis’ climb into the director’s chair.

Sources
Edna O’Brien, The Country Girls Trilogy and Epilogue, Farrar Straus Giroux, New York 1986

Barbara Trapido, “Edna O’Brien.” The Independent (May 2002)

“Lit Chat: Edna O’Brien.” Salon. (Dec 1995)

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wikipedia.com