The Blue Boy (film)
The Blue Boy is a 1994 British television film, starring Emma Thompson. In the story, a couple deal with personal conflict and supernatural happenings while spending the weekend at a secluded loch.[1]
The Blue Boy | |
---|---|
Written by | Paul Murton |
Directed by | Paul Murton |
Starring | Emma Thompson Adrian Dunbar |
Theme music composer | Philip Appleby |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Kate Swan |
Running time | 64 minutes |
Production company | BBC Scotland |
Distributor | BBC, PBS |
Release | |
Original release |
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Plot
Joe Bonner breaks off his affair with a woman named Beth when his wife, Marie, falls pregnant. To try and fix their marriage, Joe and Marie go to a hotel in rural Scotland. Marie is told about a young boy who drowned in the nearby loch a century ago. While dealing with Joe's infidelity, Marie cannot get the story of the boy out of her mind and frequently sees his image in the lake.
Cast
- Emma Thompson as Marie Bonner
- Adrian Dunbar as Joe Bonner
- Phyllida Law as Marie's mother
- Eleanor Bron as Christine
- David Horovitch as Robert
- Joanna Roth as Beth
Broadcasting and reception
The film was first shown on BBC Two on 2 January 1995.[2][3][4] In America, it aired on 2 October 1994 as part of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre series.[5]
The review in Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C grade, and called it a "slow muddle", saying that it was "frequently impossible to tell why Marie is rattled and teary: Is it because of her husband's philandering or the spectral visions she has of the boy turned blue from the freezing water?" and that the most of the cast "seem[ed] lost and irrelevant" because of the emphasis on Thompson.[5] Conversely, on the British Film Institute website Sergio Angelini praised "the finesse with which it introduces supernatural elements into an otherwise straightforward-seeming narrative about a couple coping with marital problems".[4]
Background
The story of the blue boy, a four-year-old who drowned in nearby Loch Eck, is told about the Coylet Inn at Coylet.[6]
References
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109304/
- BBC – Radio Times – Screen Two: The Blue Boy
- BBC – Screen Two – The Blue Boy
- Angelini, Sergio. "Blue Boy, The (1994)". Screenonline. British Film Institute. BBC. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
- Tucker, Ken (30 September 1994). "The Blue Boy review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
- Mendham, Trevor. "The Coylet Inn". Streenge. Retrieved 28 February 2017.