Ryan’s Daughter

Ryan’s Daughter

by Mark Mountjoy on 09-05-19

Event Details

  • Date: –

1970 / UK / 206 min. / Colour

Director: David Lean 

Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Christopher Jones, John Mills, Leo McKern, Sarah Miles

Sunday afternoons and David Lean were made for each other, as was the word ‘sweeping’. By now, Lean had mastered the epic and the setting for this one, a romantic drama, is a troubled Ireland between 1917 and 1918. With tensions high, driven by WW1 and Irish Nationalism, the film’s retelling of Flaubert’s plot for Madame Bovary is a perfect fit. Ryan’s Daughter looks at the world through both ends of the telescope. This is one of those films that found, kept and has continued to grow its audience despite the carping of critics and it remains one of Lean’s most popular, and controversial.