THE BUTTERCUP CHAIN
UK, 1970, 95 minutes, Colour.
Hywel Bennet, Leigh Taylor- Young, Jane Asher, Sven Bertil Taube, Clive Revill.
Directed by Robert Ellis Miller.
The Buttercup Chain is a depressing film. It takes four of today's young people, romanticises them, shows them as fairly free and permissive in behaviour and morals. But it does not let them get away with it. They grow older, the romance sours; some of them take on adult responsibilities, and loves and friendships break until they all seem to be left with nothing. The four young stars act their parts well, although Hywel Bennet seems to have been too often cast as an enigmatic add character. The director is Robert Ellis Miller, whose film previous to this was The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. If the film is seen, it needs discussion, firstly to ask why the romantic, permissive life is so alluring (and in the film it is presented as alluring) and then why it breaks down, and it if inevitably must break down. The other major point for discussion is the moral anchor of the film ? whether it is just hollow within and there is no definite point of view or whether some actions can be considered good and others bad and whether the film's screenplay provides adequate criteria.
1. Did you like this film? Was it a happy film?
2. What was revealed about France and his cousin during the credits? How close were they?
3. What kind of a girl was Margaret?
4. What kind of a girl was Mannie? How was she drawn into the chain?
5. How was Fred drawn into the chain?
6. Who managed the lives and affairs of the four?
7. What was the mood of the Spanish sequences ? holiday, permissive love, yet the enigmatic role of France? Why did the holiday end on a bitter note?
8. How had the four changed by the time they returned to England?
9. Did they expect Mannie to marry Fred? Did she really love him? What was France's reaction? What was Margaret's?
10. What was George's role? What was the significance of the wedding breakfast?
11. How did Mannie's child change the four?
12. How did Rome affect Margaret? Did she change for better or worse?
13. What impact did the Swedish sequences have ? the infidelity, the irresponsibility and the baby's death, France's reaction?
14. what was the significance of the showdown in Sweden ? Mannie's lustful frenzy, Fred's sorrow and Margaret's?
15. Why did Mannie go back to George? What future did they have?
16. What happened to Margaret and France?
17. How was this film one of maturing and growing up? How much did each member of the chain change? How did the mood of idyllic joy and permissiveness change to an ending of bitterness and disillusionment?
18. Were these four typical of young people, their behaviour, attitude and mistakes? Why?
