DramaYear1987Duration1h 20mIMDb6.5

The Ebony Tower

Drama

A young artist goes to interview an older painter who lives in the south of France with two young women. He gets caught up in the painter's Bohemian lifestyle and begins to examine his own attitudes towards life and art.

Trailer

Cast

RK

Robert Knights

Director

Laurence Olivier

Henry Breasley

Roger Rees

David Williams

Greta Scacchi

Diana, 'The Mouse'

Toyah Willcox

Anne, 'The Freak'

Georgina Melville

Beth Williams

YB

Yves Brainville

Jean-Pierre

DB

Denise Bailly

Mathilde

John Fowles

Writer

John Mortimer

Writer

Comments

5 Comments

salwaMay 29, 2023

source: The Ebony Tower

uppoompatMay 18, 2023

Sy_ ChouNov 16, 2022

The Ebony Tower

oskidoibelieveNov 16, 2022

This is an early TV-version of one of John Fowles' greatest stories, the first and longest in his collection of the same name from 1974. All highly recommended reading. And perhaps it belongs to a genre better read in retreat, than seen on any screen. Though the effort to make a film of it deserves attention, if not else just because of the archetypal abyss of the story. The main drawback is that Olivier is terribly miscast. The great ham is no ailing but still dangerously masculine and sharp old Man, as the painter Henry Breasley is supposed to be. Someone like Richard Harris might have been a more congenial choice for the role. And even Roger Rees seems somewhat too anemic here. While Greta Scacchi is pretty perfect. I'd buy it on DVD anytime, if it was available by itself and not just as a bonus in an Olivier collection..

roymaulukaNov 16, 2022

Nice setting of an old French manor in summer inhabited by an old dragon of a painter (Olivier) and two maidens, former art students, that he has ensnared (Scacchi and Wilcox). Into his realm to interview him comes not a knight errant but a self-satisfied example of the modern world (Rees). One of the girls, shy but gifted, wonders whether to escape with him and rejoin the world. Before the end she realises he is not worth it. The book said a lot more but we have to be satisfied with the brief foray of this film, which is emotionally and intellectually thinner. To compensate, we get glimpses of some fine paintings and, in a re-enactment of Manet's "Déjeuner sur l'herbe", some fine bare girls. Overall it comes across as watchable but slight, the strong point being the beauty and more than that the poignancy of Greta Scacchi as a bright talented young woman unsure of her direction.

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