A Severed Head

Focussed on Ian Holmes wine merchant, a group of bored middle class professionals fill their lives by having a series of doomed affairs with each other.

Time has not been kind to this 'satire' based on Iris Murdoch's book. The characters are pretty much all detestable or plain daft and although Holmes brings the occasional smile to the face, the other characters particularly Attenborough and Remick are so unrealistic it's impossible to buy into what was presumably supposed to be sharp and biting.

Firmer direction might have helped - overall, sloppy.

The wine taster and merchant Martin Lynch-Gibbon (Ian Holm) is married with the shallow and spoiled Antonia Lynch-Gibbon (Lee Remick) and loves his mistress Georgie Hands (Jennie Linden). Antonia is under therapy with Martin's best friend, the psychiatrist Palmer Anderson (Richard Attenborough). One day, Antonia decides to ask for the divorce to Martin to live with Palmer, but they want to keep Martin as their friend. When Palmer's sister Dr. Honor Klein (Claire Bloom) comes from Oxford to stay with her brother, she discloses the affair of Georgie, who was her student, and Martin to Palmer and Antonia. Meanwhile Martin's brother Alexander Lynch-Gibbon (Clive Revill) has a love affair with Georgie and Martin falls in unrequited love with Honor, but he discovers a secret about Palmer. Who will stay with whom in the end?

"A Severed Head" is an unfunny British comedy about infidelity that maybe satisfies the British humor. The story is awful and wastes a wonderful cast with names such as Lee Remick, Richard Attenborough and Ian Holm among others. It is impossible to give a single laugh after 98 minutes running time. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Amantes Infiéis" ("Unfaithful Lovers")

This is a mystery not a comedy.How can the film makers make such a mess of anything written by Irish Murdoch and J.B.Priestley.If that wasn't bad enough to lumber it with such a dreadful title.No wonder the distributors put this on the shelf for a couple of years.Shameful waste of all the talent involved.No doubt Blooms top less scene was included to boost the box office.

Considering the talent within this movie it fails to satisfy feelings much other than of disappointment & boredom. Rather pointless story of several people falling in and out of love.

British humor for a movie that more than a comedy assimilates to a tragedy.

Strange alliances and betrayals are mixed within a group of people in which no one speaks openly about their feelings but hides behind a semblance of civilization.