Negatives (1968) – Film Review

Director: Peter Medak
Cast: Peter McEnery, Diane Cilento, Glenda Jackson
Certificate: 15

By Sarah Morgan

Glenda Jackson had the most incredible life and career. She was acclaimed as one of the greatest actresses of her generation, which was no mean feat considering the fact she rose to fame alongside the likes of Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave, but after winning two Oscars (for Women in Love and A Touch of Class) she gave it all up to become an MP.

Then, after 23 years in Parliament, she returned to acting, gaining more plaudits, including a Bafta and an Emmy for her moving performance as a woman living with dementia in 2019’s Elizabeth is Missing.

Even the biggest stars have to start somewhere; Jackson earned her stripes initially on stage, then had guest roles on TV before heading for the big screen. She had small parts in a handful of projects before appearing in Negatives, which offered her her first chance to shine in a movie.

She’s third on the bill behind the then more established Peter McEnery and Diane Cilento, but it’s Jackson you can’t take your eyes off whenever she appears – she already displays the kind of fearlessness in her portrayal of the unhappy Vivien that would mark many of her later performances.

“Notorious killer”

Vivien runs an antiques shop with her equally miserable lover Theo (McEnery). They live above the premises and can only find happiness by acting out their sexual fantasies, which involve dressing up as notorious killer Dr Crippen and either his doomed wife or lover.

However, the balance of power within the relationship begins to shift after Theo meets and becomes transfixed by Reingard (Cilento), an uninhibited German photographer who has a bizarre fantasy of her own involving First World War flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron.

She moves into Vivien and Theo’s flat, a tricky arrangement that proves that three really is a crowd.

The film was the movie debut of Hungarian-born director Peter Medak, who settled in the UK in the mid-1950s and went on to make The Ruling Class, Let Him Have It and The Krays, alongside directing episodes of The Wire, Breaking Bad and Hannibal.

Medak uses what would then have been quite unusual quick-cutting techniques and offbeat camera angles to both catch the eye and maybe discombobulate the viewer. Nevertheless, the film is very much a product of its time, exploring as it does unconventional relationships in the era of free love.

“Electronic music pioneer”

Although the central story is very much a three-hander, there are brief appearances by such familiar faces as Norman Rossington, Maurice Denham and Stephen Lewis, the latter popping up before finding fame as Blakey in 1970s sitcom On the Buses.

The soundtrack is by none other than electronic music pioneer Basil Kirchin, who was born in Blackpool but spent much of his life in Hull, eventually dying there, aged 77, in 2005.

If you’re a fan of offbeat late-1960s/early-1970s British films, such as If…., Performance and Entertaining Mr Sloane (which also stars McEnery), Negatives will surely be a positive for you.

Sarah Morgan( Writer )

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

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