Girl with Green Eyes

Peter Finch - Eugene Gaillard
Rita Tushingham - Kate Brady
Lynn Redgrave - Baba Brennan
Maire Kean - Josie Hannigan
Arthur O'Sullivan - James Brady
Julian Glover - Malachi Sullivan
T.P. McKenna - The Priest

Adapted from Edna O'Brien’s novel The Lonely Girl, Girl with Green Eyes was the wistful directorial debut of Desmond Davis, who had previously worked as cameraman on Executive Producer Tony Richardson’s A Taste of Honey (1961), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) and Tom Jones (1963). The new-wave influence of Davis’ earlier projects is evident and his direction is suitably imaginative with flashes of jump-cut editing. He has the sympathy to draw perceptive performances from his cast, primarily from Finch as the retiring writer prone to lapses of impatience.

Set on 60s Dublin, two young shop assistants share a guest house room. Kate (Rita Tushingham) is a quiet, withdrawn girl whilst her best friend Baba (Lynn Redgrave) is vivacious and confident with an eye for the opposite sex. When the two girls chance upon middle-aged writer Eugene Gaillard (Peter Finch), it’s Kate that makes the first move by inviting him out for tea in Dublin on successive occasions. The immature Kate falls for the ageing lothario and moves into his home but their romance is anything but smooth as Eugene is both secretive, primarily about having a wife and child in America, and intolerant to her emotional insecurities and strong religious beliefs. Kate’s father is sent an anonymous letter informing him of his daughter’s affair with a married man and duly arrives at her place of work to march the young girl County Clare home, but despite their best efforts to dissuade her she returns to Eugene. Ultimately, the end of their ‘honeymoon period’ and the undeniable age-gap begins to cause friction between Kate and Eugene.