Cause Celebre Reviews

The main asset of made-for-TV adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s well-made but outmoded theatrical warhorse is its stunning performances. As the 1935 murder trial of middle-aged Alma Rattenbury (Helen Mirren) and her much younger lover, George Bowman (David Morrissey), commences in London, they reflect on the price of their passion. Flashbacks reveal that only last year, Alma was resigned to cosseting her doting older husband, Francis (Harry Andrews), and caring for their two children. Despite the family's shaky finances, Alma advertised for a teenager servant to relieve their overtaxed housekeeper, and instead of selecting an after-school errand boy, hired handsome, strapping 18-year-old George Bowman. Mesmerized by Alma's sex appeal and impressed by her career as a songwriter, the starstruck George accepts slave wages just to be near the past-her-prime coquette. Alma is emotionally exhausted by the demands of shoring up her unemployed, demoralized husband's bruised ego, and she and George inevitably begin an ill-fated affair. While worldly Alma is willing to settle for stolen moments of bliss, George is a romantic, who thinks life should be like a Hollywood movie. Volatile and immature, he can't reconcile the roles of servant and lover, he repeatedly threatens to quit. And when Alma and Francis plan a family getaway/job hunt, envious George feels shut out. Unable to share Alma with her husband, George bludgeons the frail old man to death, and both George and Alma are arrested. Later, during the trial, guilt-ridden Alma shoulders most of the responsibility for the crime. Despite her attorney’s pleas, she won’t renounce her boy-toy, even though she's already been convicted in the court of public opinion and faces the same death sentence ear marked for George. Mirren, whose subsequent performances are sometimes marred by distracting mannerisms, is astonishing as a flighty woman transformed by tragedy. Although films like DANCE WITH A STRANGER (1985) eclipsed CAUSE CELEBRE in sheer shock value, it remains a gripping showcase for a fine actress at her best.