The Jealous God (film)

The Jealous God (2005) is a 1960s set feature film by British writer-director Steven Woodcock. It is based on the novel by John Braine. The opening scenes were filmed in the grammar school in Bradford where Braine was once a pupil. Braine became famous in 1957 for his classic Room at the Top, a book that shocked when first published because of how it exploded British class and sexual mores of the time. There’s a clip from the Oscar-winning 1958 film version of Room at the Top in The Jealous God, when Vincent and Laura are seen sitting in a cinema.

While Woodcock's movie Between Two Women was cinematic and intellectual in tone The Jealous God, set in the early 1960s, is more commercially retro styled, like an actual 1960s melodrama. The poster that promoted the film outside British movie houses was painted by legendary New York City magazine artist Basil Gogos to look like a 1960s movie poster. The sophistication of Between Two Women shows that as a director Woodcock is capable of great subtlety so it can be assumed the more populist nature of The Jealous God was a stylistic technique used to suit the film’s deliberate, almost kitsch retro feel. Unsurprisingly it was an American, the respected film critic Rich Cline, who was one of the few reviewers perceptive enough to realize this:

"The story is filmed in a straightforward style with as few frills as possible. Woodcock immaculately recreates 1960s-style filmmaking, right down to a prudish tone that avoids actually mentioning any shocking issues by name and pans to the wallpaper when things get remotely steamy. The camera work is like a TV show - lots of moody close-ups and almost no stylistic flourishes besides a gritty recreation of the period. It's extremely effective - like travelling back in time, but with the added resonance of modern actors who combine knowing sensitivity with the overwrought drama."

However, not everyone was convinced. One critic who had also read the source novel commented that:

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