Three Into Two Won't Go

A Travel Executive (Rod Steiger) picks up a nubile hitch hiker (Judy Geeson) takes her to a motorway hotel, where he has taken previous pick ups in the past, and spends the night having sex with her. He presumes she is a one night stand till she turns up at his newly moved into home, where she greets him alongside his wife (Claire Bloom). The film from then on is the study of a disintegrating marriage. The girl acts as a catalyst forcing the couple to confront the lies they tell themselves - to maintain a loveless, childless marriage.Made in 1969 the film arrived at the tail end of the swinging 60`s, earlier in the decade the film would probably have treated the subject matter as a comedy of errors, a tragi-comic farce, but as the decade neared it`s close, approaching the 1970`s, the mirror darkened and the spotlight became more invasive. That being said, there is a comic bite to this suburban drama. The three lead actors are superb, Geeson appears almost as a suburban revenger, she keeps a black book where in she gives marks to her lovers, she is a free wheeling, sensual spirit, who objects to being treated like a one night stand, and promptly plants herself in the couples home as the guest from Hell. Her motivation is never entirely clear, Geeson brings a sensuality, guile, and venom to her role, the sex kitten with claws to scratch. Geeson makes her much more than a living doll, she is a complex, intuitive, manipulative young woman. Claire Bloom brings dignity and pathos to her role as the cuckolded wife, she conveys a wilful, bright, resilient woman, who yet yearns for tenderness, and intimacy denied her. Steiger is superb as a man caught in a mid life crisis, he combs his hair forward, to hide his receding hairline, is self conscious about his physical girth, and casual about cheating on his wife. Beneath the unsympathetic cliches of a philanderer, Steiger`s character is painfully vulnerable and insecure, Geeson knows how to bruise him, and pic at his insecurities till he is raw.It is a triumph of all three performers that none of their characters fit within convenient moral tropes, or caricatures. For the quality of the script, photography, soundtrack, and the God awful suburban middle class gate dwellings of the 1970`s, a mirror to the barren, utilitarian vapidness of the couples marriage, the film is worth a look. For Hall`s excellent direction, and the sheer quality of the three leads, it is a must watch.On a poignant note Bloom and Steiger, who had been married for a decade up to making the film, divorced before it was released.

Fantastic release , a shame it is not all region blu ray but no doubt copyright/licencing rights prevents this getting a uk release , great to see this film in all its glory , i hope some more obscure uk films of that period will get a new life on blu raY i.e .THE TOUCHABELS/WORK IS A FOUR LETTER WORD/NEGATIVES/TWO GENTLEMAN SHARING/WHAT BECAME OF JACK AND JILL/MY LOVER MY SON/WEDDING NIGHT etc etc