Esther Waters (film)

Plot

Esther (Kathleen Ryan) goes into service in Victorian England, only to be seduced by sweet-talking footman William (Dirk Bogarde). When he abandons her, she must deal with not only pregnancy but also her mother's death. She struggles to survive with only herself for comfort and strength.

Cast

Production

The movie was Dirk Borgarde's first film as a leading man, when he replaced Stewart Granger, who dropped out.

Critical reception

The Radio Times wrote:

"George Moore's source novel was strongly influenced by the naturalism of Emile Zola, but there is little of the earthiness of the original in this tawdry adaptation, which rapidly plunges between the two stools of heritage production and sensationalist melodrama. Dirk Bogarde is suitably scurrilous as a rascally footman, but the action slows fatally when he is off screen, with Kathleen Ryan in the title role facing all her trials (single motherhood, the workhouse and Bogarde's drinking) with sulkiness rather than dignity and determination. The horse-racing scenes are efficiently presented, but Ian Dalrymple and Peter Proud direct with heavy hands"

TV Guide called the film "A well-done but melancholy costume drama from the book by the Irish playwright and critic George Moore, a cofounder of the theater group that led to the famous Abbey Theatre."