Richard's Things

Richard's Things (1980)

Following her husband's death, a wife discovers and confronts her husband's lover. Their mutual pain, love, envy and jealousy bring them together in an unexpected emotional and physical relationship.

Date of release
1980-12-26
TMDB
4.9 / 10 (12)
Runtime
1h 44m
Genres
Drama
Director
Anthony Harvey

Casting

Interesting facts

Richard's Things is a 1980 British drama film directed by Anthony Harvey and starring Liv Ullmann, Amanda Redman and Peter Burton. It was written by Frederic Raphael and based on his 1973 novel of the same name. It was entered into the 37th Venice International Film Festival.

Production

The film was shot in March and April 1980, over a "tight" six week schedule. Filming locations included Maidenhead and Eastbourne. Harvey recalled before they arrived at one location for filming, there had been two suicides shortly before the crew got there, and that it was "unhappy shooting there ... it was very peculiar that place, I think it definitely was haunted."

According to Raphael, he asked Audrey Hepburn and Deborah Kerr to play the part of Kate, but they both declined. Harvey then sent the script to Katharine Hepburn for the part, but "she was too old, and knew it." So they showed the project to Liv Ullmann, who agreed to do the part for a salary of $350,000.

In an interview where Raphael was asked if the reason for the adaptation of his novel was because the "liberalism of cinema had finally caught up with the theme — a mistress having an affair with the widow of her lover", Raphael bluntly replied:I suspect that it was because of the usual heterosexual fantasies about lesbian women. I fancied it as being much more erotic.

Raphael said by the time they had finished shooting the film, Ullman had become "venomously hostile towards Redman", and Ullman's relationship with the director was not much better, as "Harvey told her to fuck off the day before they finished." Raphael said in his view, Ullman was the only actress he ever worked with "who did not do her best for the piece." He also said that while "she may not have meant to sabotage it ...

Raphael also recalled that Redman told him that in a scene where she showed her breasts to the camera, Ullman said to her, "There! I don’t know how you can do it. You have completely destroyed your career — no one will ever respect you again." Raphael opined that because Ullman did not have a leading man in the film, "she had no one who could flatter or flatten her."

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