Word: crossley
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...story which Crossley (Alan Bates) tells a young companion as they watch a cricket match being played on the grounds of the institution, is one of the primitive past, unseen forces, Aborigine magic and mysterious powers. The story unwittingly involves an electronic musician named Anthony (John Hurt), his wife Rachel (Sussanah York) and Crossley, the mysterious visitor who descends upon them. In the opening scene of Crossley's narrative, we see Anthony making highly-amplified recordings of marbles rolling in tin pans, insects, and various animals being brushed. We see Rachel preparing dinner in their picturesque kitchen on some tiny...
...reason this whole adventure begins is that Crossley introduces himself to Anthony after church services with one of the great opening lines of the year, specifically, "Don't you agree that in times of moral starvation, a soul might want to take refuge in a tree, or in a rock...
...breeziest introduction, but an interesting question. Yet before we can begin to ponder it, Crossley has invited himself to lunch where he proceeds to shatter glasses, describe how he killed his children during his 18 years in Aboriginal Australia, and provide compelling conversation about the methods medicine men have for killing people. (They remove your kidneys while you sleep...
Oddly enough, he ends up staying for a few days. Admittedly, Crossley is interesting, his stare, sort of an amused-psychotic beacon, gives the film some of its extraordinary visual power. It keeps promising that this film is about to take off and explode...
...reasonable to assume that the Crossley character would be deliberately obfuscated. It is even possible that the couple should be a bit onto the symbolic side. But the characters refuse to give any indication that they relate to each other naturally, removing the audience from any kind of closeness to their humanity, and hence their horror. Skolimowski stopes just short of delivering believable characters, and hence just short of a satisfying film...