Blu-ray Review: The Romantic Englishwoman

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

Glenda Jackson was the premiere English actress in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. She endowed her characters with a simmering libido beneath her proper upper crust manners. Her beauty had an approachable element.. She wasn’t a sizzling euro sex symbol, but she could turn up the heat when motivated. There was a soft candy center to her hard shell. She quickly won two Best Actress Oscars (Women in Love and A Touch of Class). You couldn’t enter an arthouse without seeing her in a trailer. At the height of her fame she teamed up with Michael Caine and director Joseph Losey (Modesty Blaise) for The Romantic Englishwoman.

Michael Caine is a novelist in the maddening crush of writer’s block. He can’t think too creatively because he’s obsessed with his wife’s recent solo vacation to Baden-Baden, West Germany (before the Berlin Wall collapsed). He senses that Jackson is meeting with her German lover (Helmut Berger). Even after landing a screenwriting gig Caine can only focus on the affair that may or may not be happening.

Eventually Caine encounters the German. The guy swears he’s a poet but he’s really a heroin smuggler. Caine hires him to be his assistant to keep a watch on him as well as see if he has the hots for Jackson. Watching all of the action is the mysterious Michael Lonsdale (the villain from Moonraker). Will Caine uncover if his wife is unfaithful before an outside violence strikes?

The movie is an intellectual mind game with Caine’s imagination dominating the action to the point where it’s hard to figure out what’s real. Is Jackson really unfaithful to him or just needing a breather from the guy? Are her passionate moments with the German flashbacks or Caine’s fantasies? The couple keep up the tension without reducing scenes to hysterical moments.

This was made for the art house minded and not the folks who rushed to the theater to see Caine in The Man Who Would Be King that same year. It’s almost a thinking person’s Cinemax After Dark with Jackson being a little more reserved than an Emmanuelle actress.


The video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer brings out all the colors and details of the European locations and mid-70s fashion. The audio is mono. The levels are fine for a relatively quiet movie.

Stills include 8 production photos.

The Romantic Englishwoman is a artsy tale of a maybe infidelity. Glenda Jackson and Michael Caine bring their ‘70s heat to a simmering flick. Neither one overplays their role. Can their marriage survive his imagination?

Kino presents The Romantic Englishwoman. Directed by: Joseph Losey. Starring: Glenda Jackson, Michael Caine, Helmut Berger and Michael Lonsdale. Written by: Tom Stoppard. Running time: 117 minutes. Rating: R. Released on Blu-ray: June 21, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.