MY LOVER MY SON

US/UK, 1970, 96 minutes, Colour.
Romy Schneider, Dennis Waterman, Donald Houston, Peter Sallis.
Directed by John Newland.

My Lover My Son is, as they say, a heated melodrama. It may be realistic in its theme, but it seems very contrived on the screen. The film focuses on a disappointed bride, her empty marriage and her infatuation with her son. He needs to break free and is not helped by his father. Action becomes melodramatic with the death of the father, a court scene and the revelation of the mother's murder of her husband. It is done in a rather melodramatic, lurid way, a British psychedelic version of family melodrama. Romy Schneider does her best with the central role, but seems too young to be the mother. Dennis Waterman does his best with the role of the son. There is a competent British supporting cast but the film is, as a whole, a cinema oddity.

1. Entertainment value? Interest? A cinema oddity? Does the film work or not?

2. The title? Its focus on the mother-son relationship and the tones of incest? The original novel: Reputation For A Song?

3. The style of the late '60s: colour, credits and the focus on swinging England, fashions, wealth, clubs? London, Britain? The styles, talk, music? How dated does the film seem now?

4. The importance of the prologue: Francesca, her relationship with her lover, the exotic touches highlighting the love relationship? The lover's death? Francesca and the trauma, her memory? Her reliving the tragedy? Her literally seeing her lover in her son? The son not knowing? The later explanation? The title and the relationship of lover to son and the lover in the son?

5. Romy Schneider as Francesca, how credible? Age, style, European background, beauty? Dennis Waterman as Jamie, his age? How well did the scenes between them work: their relationships, at home, the suggestion of infatuation, obsession, sensuality, love? The parallel between lover and son, especially in the swimming sequences and Francesca's apprehensions?

6. Francesca in herself, her age at the time of the tragedy, marriage to Robert, the wealthy brittle life in England, the clashes with Robert, her growing to possess Jamie, her enjoying the relationship and brazening it out against Robert, her interventions in Jamie's life, control of him, her discovering Julie and ringing her? Her place in Jamal’s life?

7. The importance of the interchange of faces between the lover and Jamal ?sufficient cinema explanation for the relationship?

8. Robert and his life as businessman, love for Francesca? His return and his arrogance, the background of Kenya, the party and his embarrassment about Francesca's behaviour with Jamie, putting pressure on Jande, the discussion with him about school, his philosophy of financial success? The relationship between Francesca and Robert and its hypocrisy. Robert and his secretary? His anger with Jande and Francesca? The seeming accident of his death after the fight? The flashback to the truth?

9. Jamie and the behaviour at the party, the clash with Robert, his wandering Soho,, the prostitute and his fantasies about her, meeting Julie at the bar, paying, the friendship, the visit to the boat, their talk together and her trying to discover his relationship with the older woman, the sexual relationship? Julie as a refuge? His leaving his mother for her? His experience of the court case? The defence of his mother and believing her? The discovery of the truth and his walking out on his mother?

10. The build up of tension, the weekend, the death and the revelation of murder?

11. The prison sequences and Jamie's anguish? The court and his answers? The pressures and twists of the lawyer? His discovery of the truth? Francesca and her hatred of Robert, trying to save Jamie? The final walkout and the madness for Francesca's future?

12. How skilfully were the characters sketched? The contrivances of the situation? The success of the film as story? As a fable about freedom, adulthood, love and possessiveness, obsessions, career?