London has never seemed so decadent and immoral as in John Schlesinger's “Darling,” a transitional film of the mid-1960s, released after the height of the Kitchen Sink Realism School (“Look Back in Anger,” “Room at the Top,” “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning”) and around the time of the new movies about swinging London, beginning with the Beatles movies like “Help.”
Oscar Nominations: 5
Picture, produced by Joseph Janni
Director: John Schlesinger
Story and Screenplay (Original): Frederic Raphael
Actress: Julie Christie
Costume Design (b/w): Julie Harris
Oscar Awards: 3
Story and Screenplay
Actress
Costume Design
Oscar Context
In 1965, Darling competed for the top award with another British-made film, David Lean's Doctor Zhivago” (also starring Julie Christie, as Lara), Stanley Kramer's pretentious drama, “Ship of Fools,” the Broadway based “A Thousand Clowns,” and the musical “The Sound of Music,” which swept most of the Oscars.
One of the youngest actresses to win the Oscar, Julie Christie moved to Hollywood and gave some distinguished performances in the 1970s, including Robert Altman's “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” for which she earned an Oscar nomination.
