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Sunday Bloody Sunday Movie Review

Sunday Bloody Sunday is a 1971 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson and Murray Head. It’s a strong, but uneven drama.

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“Are you bourgeois?“

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The movie tells the story of a young bisexual artist and his simultaneous relationships with a divorced recruitment consultant and a gay Jewish doctor. This was one of the first movies to depict homosexuality without negative feelings associated with it – homophobia from others or gay men themselves feeling uncomfortable with their sexuality. The film just depicts these characters as they are, which was admirable for the time, but also somewhat unrealistic.

This is not a movie about a throuple, but rather a film about this horrible young man who ruins the lives of people around him. Murray Head was definitely very good in the role, especially for such an unknown performer, but Bob is a terrible man who only looks after himself and screws over both of his partners in the end. The movie thankfully dedicated more screen time to the other two characters, people who after all deserve audience’s sympathy.

Daniel stands pretty much for Schlesinger as he was a gay Jewish man himself. Thus, this character felt very personal. Peter Finch was absolutely phenomenal in the role and so well cast. You can see in his face the hurt and loneliness that he feels throughout. But the standout just might be Glenda Jackson in the role of the frustrated, unhappy Alex. Her performance is among her career-best ones. Every single scene of hers was emotionally draining as you could see just in her eyes so much emotion.

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Sunday Bloody Sunday was definitely elevated by those remarkable acting performances, but the movie was otherwise somewhat muted in its overall impact. That is because the pacing is quite awkward – there are a couple of scenes concerned with a party or family gathering that felt superfluous to the overall narrative and way too extended. I also did not care for the ending. The movie would have been much stronger had it been better paced and more cinematic as it lacked the flourish that some of the director’s other movies have.