ONE IS A LONELY NUMBER
US, 1972, 97 minutes, Colour.
Trish Van Devere, Monte Markham, Janet Leigh, Melvyn Douglas.
Directed by Mel Stuart.
One Is A Lonely Number: critics find it easy to dismiss a film which looks glossy, has a fashionable theme and which does not try for grim realism, profound dialogue or inventive camerawork. Such was reaction to this film. It can be commended to audiences, not as a great film, but as a fairly genuine one - what happens to a young woman when her husband walks out and files for divorce; her loneliness, her successes and failures with sympathetic and exploitive friends, her re-assessment of herself and her life. Trish Van Devere is fine in the central role as is Melvyn Douglas as a greengrocer. Real situations and problems worth seeing and reflecting on.
1. For what audience was the film made? The response from men, women? The eliciting of various viewpoints?
2. The tone of the title, significance? Emphasis on loneliness and aloneness? The glossy Hollywood presentation of a problem film? Colour, locations, sets, music? Special camera effects? Expectations of the presenting of problems, solutions?
3. How dominant was the woman's theme? The woman's viewpoint and feeling?
4. How well explored were themes of contemporary marriage, divorce, mutual hurting? Personal problems, social problems, personal and social repercussions?
5. How attractive was Trish Van Devere as Amy? An attractive character, sympathetic? Initial audience response as her husband left her without reason? How real a character did she seem? How desperate her plight? The puzzle? Strengths and weaknesses of character? The effect of the experience of marriage, separation? How much of a blow?
6. How well did the film emotionally communicate the experience of desertion? A woman being left alone, her having to make decisions, the unknown future? The effect?
7. Amy and her reliance on Madge for support? Did she get good support from her, could she rely on her?
8. The experience of seeking out employment, going to the baths and working? The difficulties, being pursued by the attendant, expectations from parents, the symbol of her having to dive? Human friendliness with the children at the baths, reinforcing the sense of loneliness when she went home?
9. The atmosphere of the party, a fresh view of socialising by a woman who thought she was safely married but now is on her own again? The art gallery, the chic discussions and fashions? Meeting Howard within this context? Howard as a romantic type? His genial approach? Invitation to an affair and her reaction against it? Why did she eventually begin the affair with him? The bonds between them, her love for Howard, the sexual experience, the meaning for her? The brutalness of the truth when she found that he was married? A repetition of her experience with her husband?
10. The importance of Gert for the dramatics of the plot, her league, her fierceness, outlook against men, support of Amy, advice? The importance of bringing the case to the court, Gert's support for the legal proceedings?
11. The decision for divorce, the repercussions, the confrontation with her husband, separation of goods, the emotional overtones and memories? Her learning the truth about her husband living with the girl? How understandable was it that she became vindictive because of her hurt? Her harshness in the court sequence?
12. How important was the presence of Mr. Provo? A genial old man, widower, his shop? The importance of his talking with her, the bonds of friendship, fruit and vegetables? The happiness of the outing to King Lear and her emotional outburst at the end? Her missing him when he went away, fearing his death, the anxiety? Her love for Mr. Provo as a revelation of how emotional she was? The joy of his re-appearance?
13. The importance of the final self-assertion? At the court the diving, the final frozen image of her in mid-dive?
14. How much sentiment was there in the film? Sentimentality? Sympathy for the plight of the heroine, indignation at her treatment? A satisfactory look at a problem? Superficial look? The amount of satire on the American situation, observation of society, moralizing?
