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Powerful

Fantastic!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The Pumpkin Eater, for which Ann Bancroft won a Golden Globe and received her second Best Actress Oscar nomination, is an example of how she could dramatically dominate a film. This film, based on Penelope Mortimer's novel, is energized by Harold Pinter's enigmatic screenplay, beautifully photographed by Oswald Morris, and expertly directed by Jack Clayton. Peter Finch, James Mason, and Maggie Smith, round out a great cast. As the film opens we see a well-dressed, but extremely depressed woman, Jo Armitage (Ann Bancroft), entering her house. She seems totally alone. Her isolation is apparent as she lets a telephone ring without answering it. As she looks out from her lofty tower (an old Dutch-style windmill, without its blade-like arms, that had been restored as part of her house), we see a split screen (double exposure) showing us her thoughts from the time when she first met her husband, Jake (Peter Finch). This split screen cues us into a flashback that will make up the bulk of the film. I love this shot because it simulanteouly shows us Jo's present- day depression (shown on our left side) and blends it with images of the formerly happy and laughing Jo (shown on our right side). Not only is there chiaroscuro in the image but there is also chiaroscuro when one compares Jo's present mood with that of her past.As we enter the flashback, we see Jo living in a restored barn with her second husband, Giles (Richard Johnson), and her seven children. There, she meets one of Giles' friends, Jake Armitage (Peter Finch). She eventually leaves Giles for Jake. He marries her in spite of her brood of children, accepting both the 'zoo and the zookeeper' as her father, Cedric Hardwicke, puts it. Jo's father wants to give Jake a 'fighting chance' of succeeding, so he offers to pay for having the two eldest sons shipped off to boarding school and putting a deposit down on a modest London flat for Jake and his ready-made family. As Jo becomes pregnant with Jake's child, he goes on to become a successful and wealthy film writer. Since his work takes up much of his time, Jo becomes empty and unhappy. Jake asks one of his co-workers, Philpott (Maggie Smith), to live with them for a while and help Jo in caring for the children. But, Philpott is not much help, and Jo doesn't understand why she is staying with them. After Jo accuses Jake of having an affair with Philpott, Philpott leaves them. Also, Jo doesn't feel comfortable with Jake's film-related crowd and stays home with the children rather than accompanying him to filming locations or going to the required social parties. Jo wants Jake to herself, but that isn't possible with his work; Jake 'n Jo continue to co-exist in quiet desperation. One day while shopping at Harrod's, Jo publicly breaks down. Jake has Jo start psychotherapy and she eventually becomes better. The sessions with her psychiatrist, Eric Porter, are revealing, but not overstated in this Pinter screenplay. One evening, Jo decides to invite Jake's working friends to a party. However, she feels alone, isolated, among her own guests. One obnoxious guest at the party is Bob Conway (James Mason). Conway--who declares his distrust of 'professionals' and prefers to be called a 'craftsman'--is married to a film actress, Beth (Janine Gray). The social (professional) link between Beth and Jake is Jake's film writing. When Jo becomes pregnant again, Jake asks her to have an abortion and sterilization. (He wants to someday be free to travel, have fun, and not always be thinking about caring for another new child—to be able to start out all over again). He has Jo's doctors approve the medical procedures based on her psychological and medical condition. Jo learns to live with this until she finds out, from Bob Conway, that HIS wife is pregnant, but not by him—by Jake.Aside from the great acting, directing and photography, I think that this is a very good film in that it is often able to show emotions WITHOUT the use of words. It is not always easy to show what depression actually 'looks like, 'but this film captures it quite well. It also captures isolation, manipulation, and panic in a way that I have never seen done so well before. Priceless!

That Anne Bancroft was a looker. What an incredible face! Her face is the star of this movie about a severely depressed woman who used her children as a buffer between her and life. After having fallen in love at first sight with her third husband, she spends the next two hours of the film suspecting him, accurately, of adultery, and alternatively adoring and despising him. There are chilling hints of how she got to be this way -- her mother and father have no respect for psychological boundaries. They walk all over their every-hair-in-place, privileged daughter as if she isn't even there. And she never says a word. The movie ends on a particularly depressing note. She and her husband -- despite a recent slug fest over his having impregnated the smarmy James Mason's young wife -- are back together in the bosom of their large family. Ain't no way this truce is gonna last, and that's the tragedy of it all. Definitely a compelling film. I couldn't wait to see how it turned out. But it doesn't add up to much -- like many modern romances? And why DID they title this film as the did? That's the biggest puzzler of all.

It seems I have always been aware of this movie...it's strange title was one I'd heard even as a kid. But I only recently saw it for the first time, some 46 years after it was made.This strange little drama, written by Harold Pinter, has a performance by Anne Bancroft that is simply astounding. Beautiful and full of life, she is absolutely riveting in this part. Peter Finch is sly and attractive as her husband, and the two are extremely plausible as conflicted, complicated lovers.The movie is nicely shot, directed with obvious care and attention to detail, and the writing has an odd, menacing, off-kilter vitality. But it's Bancroft's remarkably strong and beautiful performance that makes this unmissable.

Directed by Jack Clayton (Room at the Top)and written by Harold Pinter, this movie is more a study than a story. It shows the memorable Anne Bancroft as the mother of eight children in a comfortable neighbourhood of London. The family benefits from the inherited wealth of the mother, who wears the finest of clothing and shops at Herrods. She dotes on her children but still has time for what appears to be a healthy marriage. Along comes her third husband (Peter Finch), who is at first entirely comfortable with the chaotic home life, but gradually drifts apart from his wife, whose time is taken up by her children. He falls into infidelity and his wife becomes seriously depressed. How this is resolved is the subject of the movie, if in fact marital conflict can ever be "resolved". The cinematography is stunning and the film cleverly works in a rather awkward party where Bancroft is moving from one guest to another amid the drunken gibberish. The on-location shooting in London and in the countryside are absolutely superb. James Mason is a professional colleague and Maggie Smith has a bit part as a dim-witted nanny. Sir Cedric Hardwicke has a brief cameo as the maternal grandfather. This was his last film. Anne Bancroft's breakdown while shopping is a powerful scene and extremely well executed. All in all, an unusual film but one that most movie buffs would want to see.