A Way Through the Wood; the title of a 1951 novel by the almost-forgotten author, Nigel Balchin.
Julian Fellowes wrote the script for Gosford Park, which won an Oscar for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen in 2002. Having played small parts in films and on TV for twenty years, here was recognition. The Best Screenplay Oscar has over the years had some well known winners. It is an Oscar I’d be proud to win but first I suppose I should write a screenplay, somehow get it made into a film, get a nomination and win. Then LA, red carpet and something to put on the chimneypiece in the study.
Fellowes capitalised on his Oscar by writing and directing (for the first time) the 2005 film, Separate Lies. He based the film on Balchin’s novel. The main parts are played by Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Rupert Everett – a trinity of thespian talent. Tom Wilkinson is not so familiar as, although he has been acting on TV and in films since 1976, he has usually been cast in supporting roles. In Separate Lies he gets his chance to star and he makes the part of a successful London lawyer with a pretty, younger wife and houses in London (Royal Avenue in Chelsea) and the Chilterns his own.
The film is a masterpiece. It runs for only eighty-five minutes and there is not a superfluous scene. The plot unfolds succinctly and satisfyingly. I am not surprised Julian Fellowes has said it’s the work he is most proud of. It’s nothing like Gosford Park and Downton Abbey. Balchin was a psychologist before becoming an author and created complex but believable characters. This was just the material Julian Fellowes needed to make a terrific film. I rented it on iTunes and watched it last night.