Woman in a Dressing Gown
1hr 35min.UK 1957. Directed by J. Lee Thompson. With Yvonne Mitchell, Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms.
In a re-issue for 2012, this story of household oppression was made before kitchen-sink drama became standard. Amy (Mitchell) is anything but the model 1950s housewife: burning food, rarely dressing and watching helplessly as the plates pile up and the walls close in. Her husband Jim (Quayle) turns to his young secretary Georgie (Syms) and, as he asks for a divorce, Amy’s fragile state threatens to crumble completely.
The film allows the viewer to see all three points of view and gives time and space to the dilemmas faced by each protagonist rather than demonising either the troubled woman or her guilty husband.
See below for an extract from the Guardian Film Show in which Catherine Shoard, Peter Bradshaw and Henry Barnes review the film.