Best Actress: Julie Christie

 If you took a shot every time someone said "Darling" you'd be in liver failure by the end of this film.

I'm all for women exploring their sexuality and living a life of freedom. No buts, just a factual statement I want on the record. 

I'd find it hard to criticize Julie Christie's character, Diana Scott, an actress and model living in the Swinging Sixties in London and living an 'amoral' life as she 'sleeps her way to the top', according to like, every logline I found on every website that I bothered visiting for research purposes.

We're presented to the titular Darling as she narrates her life and her series of dalliances with older, married men. She's an actress, a model, and finally, an Italian princess. And God, she's so stylish. Diana comes to us in voiceover, recollecting every moment that's led up to the final dénouement. I wonder if you weren't supposed to root for her in the '60s? It seems like it was made to shock back in the day but all of this stuff (including the first ever nude scene for a Best Actress winner) is relatively tame by modern standards. 

That being said, Darling does drag in the second hour. It's almost Elaine-watching-The-English-Patient in a way: hurry up and finish your story! The supporting cast is great, too. Dick Bogarde, who I'm always iffy on is great as the first affair partner, and then Laurence Harvey shows up, and my God, I hope he was a nice person in real life because after the one-two punch of seeing his smug face in Room at the Top and BUtterfield 8, I've given up on the characters he played. 

But back to Julie. She really sells the whole thing. Diana is impulsive and reckless and goes after what she wants. But by the end, she has to live with the mess she's created, and Julie is fantastic at showing us what it looks like when this 'darling' has gotten everything she wanted. 

Julie was nominated against Julie Andrews (The Sound of Music), Samantha Eggar (The Collector), Elizabeth Hartman (A Patch of Blue), and Simone Signoret (Ship of Fools). I think Julie Christie's great, don't get me wrong, but I would've voted for Julie Andrews and tried to convince everyone I knew to vote for her as well. 

DID I LIKE DARLING?  It drags in the second hour, but Julie's fun!

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Did you like Darling? What are your thoughts on Julie Christie's Oscar win?

Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here!

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