Sunday Bloody Sunday

UPC: 715515099615

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language]

Summary: This British film examines the choices individuals must make when confronted with a romantic relationship which is rewarding but does not offer them everything they want. In this sympathetic and psychologically precise drama, Alexandra Greville (Glenda Jackson), "Alex" to her friends, has a younger man as her sometime lover, the young sculptor Bob Elkin (Murray Head). Elkin is completely open about the fact that he is also the lover of her acquaintance, Dr. Daniel Hirsch (Peter Finch). These relationships continue in some kind of equilibrium until Alex and Bob agree to house-sit the children of a couple known to the three of them. In their roles, neither Head nor Finch "swished," or otherwise catered to homosexual stereotypes, and theirs was considered to be a groundbreaking, sympathetic portrayal of this kind of relationship, not condescending in any way. One highlight of the film is a scene in which Dr. Hirsch attends the Bar Mitzvah of his nephew. This critically well-received movie was unexpectedly successful at the box office. The film's director and screenwriter, as well as Jackson and Finch, were nominated for Academy Awards. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Editing – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Foreign Film - English Language – null Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Presented – Venice International Film Festival Best Foreign Film - English Language – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Actor – National Society of Film Critics

Features: New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Billy Williams
New interviews with Williams, actor Murray Head, production designer Luciana Arrighi, John Schlesinger biographer William J. Mann, and Schlesinger's longtime partner, photographer Michael Childers
Illustrated 1975 audio interview with Schlesinger
Plus: a booklet featuring an essay by cultural historian Ian Buruma and Penlope Gilliatt's 1971 introduction to her published screenplay

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Format: DVD

Release Date: 10/23/2012

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Vistavision

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 110 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Sunday Bloody Sunday
1. Pains [5:12]
2. Running Late [2:36]
3. A Good Family [2:37]
4. Weekend Together [3:52]
5. Longing [2:11]
6. Acceptance [3:37]
7. From Alex to Daniel [6:06]
8. Unanswered [3:33]
9. Jealousy Strikes [4:22]
10. Familiar Face [6:41]
11. Outing in Greenwich [5:34]
12. Haunting Memories [5:07]
13. Bob's New Project [2:45]
14. Home Alone [2:17]
15. On and Off [5:45]
16. Out to Grass [4:16]
17. Playing Games [4:40]
18. Surprise Visit [4:21]
19. Freedom [3:30]
20. Discovering Bob's Plans [3:36]
21. Bar Mitzvah [4:14]
22. Fending with Family [2:11]
23. "Nothing's Changed" [3:53]
24. An Urgent Call [2:34]
25. The Last Time [3:04]
26. Chance Encounter [5:24]
27. "But I Am Happy" [6:07]
28. Color Bars [:00]

Brendon Hanley

An honest look at the changing attitudes toward sexual identity in the early 1970s, Sunday Bloody Sunday rises above the standard hot-button topical melodrama, thanks to some sensitive performances from its leads. Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch are both outstanding as the two lovers of the same man; Finch in particular imbues his character with a quiet dignity. Though somewhat less skilled, Murray Head is still surprisingly effective as the center of the romantic triangle. Director John Schlesinger made his name with 1969's Midnight Cowboy, another film which dealt with controversial homosexual issues; Sunday is less urgent than Cowboy, but no less perceptive. Both Jackson and Finch garnered Academy Award nominations, as did Schlesinger and New Yorker film reviewer Penelope Gilliatt. ~ Brendon Hanley, Rovi

Cast and Crew: George Belbin  Actor 
Frank Windsor  Actor 
Patrick Thornberry  Actor 
Daniel Day-Lewis  Actor 
Peter Halliday  Actor 
John Rae  Actor 
Emma Schlesinger  Actor 
Tony Britton  Actor 
Bessie Love  Actor 
Richard Loncraine  Actor 
Marie Burke  Actor 
Ann Firbank  Actor 
Richard Pearson  Actor 
Joe Wadham  Actor 
June Brown  Actor 
Jon Finch  Actor 
Hannah Norbert  Actor 
Royce Mills  Actor 
Ellis Dale  Actor 
Harold Goldblatt  Actor 
Cindy Burrows  Actor 
Caroline Blakiston  Actor 
Edward Evans  Actor 
Douglas Lambert  Actor 
Russell Lewis  Actor 
Thomas Baptiste  Actor 
Gabrielle Daye  Actor 
Robert Rietty  Actor 
Kimi Tallmadge  Actor 
Ron Geesin  Composer (Music Score) 
Joseph Janni  Producer 
John Schlesinger  Director 
Penelope Gilliatt  Screenwriter 
Glenda Jackson  Actor 
Peter Finch  Actor 
Murray Head  Actor 
Peggy Ashcroft  Actor 
Maurice Denham  Actor 
Vivian Pickles  Actor 

Country: UK