THE BURDEN OF "THE GO-BETWEEN"

I’m looking back on our progress so far, and am noticing that it’s been a while since we’ve had a good old period piece on these pages. Period pieces are just one of those things aren’t they, you either love them or you hate them. Thing is, they tend to be a little… I don’t know, samey. They are usually grand romances; often depict historical events and the accent is largely on the costumes and décor. Very rarely, however, you get a psychological period piece. This rarity is quite odd, because no matter what else was different, the way people’s minds worked were the same. And there were then as there are now, people who had figured out how people’s minds worked, and how to use this fact… This is what The Go-between is precisely all about…
The year is 1900. Young Leo, a twelve year-old boy from an underprivileged family, is spending ten days of the summer vacation in Norfolk, at the grand home of his richer classmate and friend Marcus. Leo has been brought up by his widowed mother with great difficulty and therefore is stunned by the luxury in the Norfolk home. But he is even more stunned by Clarissa (Julie Christie), Marcus’s beautiful older sister. Leo knows very little of the more “sensitive” issues in life, Clarissa is quick to pick up on this and even quicker to use it to her own advantage. This is because Clarissa, though engaged to be married, is having an affair with one of the tenant farmers on the estate. Of course their difference in statute makes an open affair virtually impossible, but at least now Leo is here, they can meet more often. This is brought about by the fact that Leo would do virtually anything for Clarissa. Including playing postman between the two lovers, ferrying their notes back and forth… How long will Clarissa be able to keep this game up? When, if ever will Leo’s eyes open to what it is he is actually doing?
The film shows us an absolutely marvelous example of manipulation. Leo is a typical “ingénue” if there ever was one. In this age of information and the internet, with children playing with intelligent phones from toddlerhood upwards, it is very hard to actually imagine someone like Leo. At twelve, children these days are completely in touch with every last intricacy of the “facts of life” and everything that goes with them. Leo, however, is made blissful just by the knowledge that he is making Clarissa happy. What is actually in these notes and what is happening behind everybody’s backs is way beyond his imagination. We watch on with baited breath and fraying nerves as the plot thickens… Will Leo actually ever truly “get” what is going on?
Losey uses camerawork to underline this feeling even further. The camera is very “stiff”, not a lot of movement, definitely not a lot of zooming, just some gentle panning here and there. The framing is meticulous, often quite beautiful with great attention to detail. The effect is very much that of British society at the turn of the century; rigid, distant with great attention to exterior fanfare. That, in turn, makes us feel just as trapped as Leo is, trapped on the surface of events if you will, with the rules of the adults giving him very little room to manoeuver and seek the information he clearly knows he lacks. In short The Go-between is elegant, intelligent and definitely original as far as period films go. If you’re only going to watch one, make it this one…