A QUESTION OF ATTRIBUTION

UK, 1991, 90 minutes, Colour.
James Fox, David Calder, Geoffrey Palmer, Prunella Scales, Jason Flemyng.
Directed by John Schlesinger.

A Question of Attribution is a second British spy drama, a collaboration between John Schlesinger and writer Alan Bennett who had previously made An Englishman Abroad, with Alan Bates and Coral Brown, a picture of Guy Burgess in Moscow.

This film is a portrait of Sir Anthony Blunt, his relationship with MI5, his role as the curator of the Queen's pictures - and it includes a fascinating sequence where Sir Anthony Blunt meets the Queen and they have a discussion about pictures and about forgeries and fakes.

The film is brief, is elegantly written by Bennett and provides an insight into the personality of Sir Anthony Blunt and his final emergence as the fourth man amongst the British spies in contact with Moscow. He is a man of the Establishment, a man lacking in moral stance, pragmatic but able to move in English society because of his cultural background and status. James Fox gives an excellent performance as Blunt. David Calder is also excellent as the investigator Chubb, a complete contrast in style and background from Blunt. However, in the interrogations, which are done in a very gentlemanly fashion, Chubb begins to learn a great deal about art.

Bennett uses a portrait by Titian, alleged to be by Titian, as the central core of the study of the British spy. Blunt is involved in the cleaning of the picture, which gradually reveals that there are four personalities in the picture and discussions as to whether the portraits are forgeries or not. The parallel between the forged painting and the cultivated spy are elaborated with interesting detail (including the discussion with the Queen).

Prunella Scales appears to great effect as the Queen in the discussion with Blunt.

The film was made in the early '90s after the break-up of the Soviet Union, whereas An Englishman Abroad was made earlier. However, they form companion pieces highlighting the nature of British attitudes towards espionage and also towards Russia and the changing of the Soviet Union and the Cold War in the early '90s.

1. An interesting telemovie about the British? About the nature of British espionage over many decades? Of the relationship between the Communist students of the '30s and their diplomatic work and espionage in the '40s and '50s? Their effect on Britain in the '30s and in World War II?

2. The collaboration between Alan Bennett and John Schlesinger? Bennett and his inventiveness, his literate screenplay, his imaginative reconstruction of sequences and invention of sequences? John Schlesinger and his eliciting polished performances as well as providing a smoothly presented movie? For the television audience?

3. A film depending on audience knowledge of the British spies and their motivations, their careers? Knowledge about Sir Anthony Blunt and his being protected and not being unmasked? The importance of knowing about espionage, the role of moral judgments on the spies by the audience?

4. The background of Britain in the '30s, the attraction of socialism and communism? Of the Soviet Union under Stalin? The recruiting of spies? The Old Boys' network, the elite? The bonds of homosexuality? The three spies escaping to the Soviet Union? Blunt and his information and his indemnity? His ultimately being named?

5. The focus of the film: MI5 and the investigation, their attitudes, secrecy and publicity? The welfare of Great Britain? The focus on Blunt, in himself, character, his past, his present, self-protection? The focus on the interaction between Blunt and Chubb? Class differences, cultural differences, moral differences?

6. The title and the references to artwork and artists? Art, fakes, forgeries? The distinction between fake and forgery? Truth disguised? The background of Renaissance art and Blunt's expertise? His own appreciation of paintings - and his theoretical background? The portraits of Titian? Titian as a character, his family, sons? Authorities? The faces, material painted over and blacked out? The cleansing of portraits? Unmasking? Enigma and identity of characters? The third man and the appearance of the fourth man? The discussion about the animals in the painting, dogs and wolves? The context for an analysis of Blunt and the spies? The effectiveness of the allegory? The picture being cleaned, the decision to remove it from the art gallery and for it to be studied, the Annunciation replacement? The Queen and her discussions? Art imagery and talk? Blunt's lectures on art to the students, to Chubb, to his assistants?

7. Painting and the conventions of the time? Blunt's justification for his behaviour? His distinction between forgery and fake?

8. The character of Chubb, the other officials at MI5, the failure to get any information from Blunt? The insider and his discussions with Blunt in the park? The demands made on Chubb? Chubb's appearance, manner of speaking, smoking? His wife, home? The meetings with Blunt? The nature of the interrogations, his shrewdness? The looking at the stills and the photos? Identity of spies? The homosexual background? Blunt's comments on the men in the pictures? His typist(?) seeing the nude man on the screen? Blunt and his fastidiousness, his sexual sensibilities?

9. Chubb and his art lectures? Interest in art? Reading and study? His shrewdness in interpreting Blunt? The build-up to a confrontation? The naming of Blunt? Blunt and his deals, his emergence, the press in pursuit?

10. The portrait of the art students? Their admiration for Blunt? The guard in the gallery and his detailed and expert knowledge? Their relationships with Blunt?

11. The build-up to the removal of the Titian from the gallery? The Queen's pictures? Her arrival and the corgis? The students hurrying for cover? The character of the Queen, insight into her daily routine, expectations, her knowledge of her paintings? The various gifts from different countries? Her discussions about Titian, her seeming ignorance, her shrewdness in communicating to Blunt her understanding of his dilemmas? Her humorous remark about the man under the sofa? An interesting insight into the Queen? The comments from everybody else asking Blunt what she was like in reality?

12. An individual, society? Moral stances and values? The 20th century and ideologies? Espionage and morality?