British Film Stars: Julie Christie at HOME
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
This January HOME have decided to celebrate an iconic British film star, with a season of cinema exploring the career of Julie Christie. From swinging London to Hollywood glamour, this five film snapshot of a legendary performer features work from three decades and a number of notable auteurs.
The season starts on Sunday 8 January with 1965’s Darling, which is billed as “perhaps the classic film of the swinging London era” that helped consolidate the actress’ position as a major new talent in the British film industry. The following Sunday 15 January we’re treated to a showing of François Truffaut’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451 (1966), featuring Christie in an unusual double role.
this five film snapshot of a legendary performer features work from three decades and a number of notable auteurs
Sunday 22 January brings 1971’s The Go-Between, a classic collaboration between director Joseph Losey and screenwriter Harold Pinter. This fascinating tale of illicit romance features Christie as a wealthy young woman opposite Alan Bates’ tenant farmer.
HOME’s cult strand is a great excuse to showcase Donald Cammel’s paranoid AI classic Demon Seed. Released in 1977 as the follow-up to the director’s arty rock star thriller Performance, the film follows a scientist who creates an organic supercomputer, only for it to slowly become obsessed with its creator’s wife (Christie).
Finally, the Julie Christie-fest concludes on Sunday 29 January with Heat and Dust, a seldom-screened Merchant Ivory production from 1983, which takes place in the last days of the British rule of India, exploring the British ruling clique as a woman is drawn towards the court of a local Indian prince.
