Darling

John Schlesinger, 1965, bw (8.2*)
Julie Christie burst into stardom, and won an Oscar® for best actress in this John Schlesinger romance about a beautiful model with less morals than connections. The story is nothing extra or unusual, but Christie's performance makes this film. She manages to be both attractive and emotionally repelling at the same time, free and uninhibited, yet also impermanent and frightening.

The two men she primarily juggles in this soapy story are Dirk Bogarde, who is married with children, and Laurence Harvey. Ironically, later in the same year, she would do the same with Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, and Rod Steiger in Doctor Zhivago. It's not hard for the public to buy the premise that Christie would have suitors lined up for the slaughter.

Schlesinger would later direct Oscar® winning best picture Midnight Cowboy, in 1968.