Middle-aged Gerald Kingsland advertises in a London paper for a female companion to spend a year with him on a desert island. Young Lucy Irving takes a chance on contacting him, but once on the island, things prove a lot less idyllic than in the movies. Gradually, it becomes clear that it is Lucy who has the desire and the strength to try and see the year through.
Acting
Reed's volcanic self-destruction meets Donohoe's quietly devastating steel.
Direction
Roeg fractures time until paradise feels like purgatory.
Cinematography
The island becomes a character—beautiful, indifferent, hungry.
Director
Nicolas Roeg
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Lucy Irvine hated the film and called Reed 'a drunken embarrassment to the project.' She and Kingsland literally never met again after rescue.
Released two years before 'Cast Away' (the Tom Hanks one), this is the ULTIMATE 'be careful what you wish for' island fantasy—Roeg's antidote to Blue Lagoon romanticism.
GB
US
