Victim (R/I)

Sixties British social history classic gets the re-issue treatment. The film was ground-breaking for its time and that’s probably why its been chosen for the special issue. Bogarde here plays a gay barrister, married, who is forced by a young man to admit he is gay to all those around him, even including his own wife.

Coming out of the closet so to speak, causes quite a stir, but then decades ago, it would have done, but doubtless most wouldn’t butt an eyelid now and the film is both fascinatingly caught in a timewarp and also a reminder of just how traumatic these kind of issues can be. Good performances from the leading performers – Syms as the surprised but eventually supportive spouse and Bogarde bravely taking a role that could have ruined him if it had been taken the wrong way by the public but thankfully they didn’t and they saw this more as intelligent talking-point drama rather than anything else.

Matt Arnoldi