''Foxtrot'' is a 1976 British-Mexican

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Arturo Ripstein Arturo Ripstein y Rosen (born December 13, 1943) is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. Considered the "Godfather of independent Mexican cinema", Ripstein's work is generally characterized by "somber, slow-paced, macabre melodramas tackling ...

and starring Peter O'Toole, Charlotte Rampling and

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow ( , ; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

. It was re-released in 1977 as ''The Far Side of Paradise''.Christopher T Koetting, ''Mind Warp!: The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures'', Hemlock Books. 2009 p 97 Somewhat in the style of '' Swept Away'' (released six months before shooting began on Foxtrot), it's the story of a very chic, Romanian count and countess that escape Europe by yacht in 1939 during World War II for a private island paradise somewhere in the Pacific. It's rather unsettling and a bit surreal (not surprising, considering director

worked with

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

), portraying a couple reminiscent of the duke and duchess of Windsor as they undergo a languid descent from elegance to decadence to butchery. Most striking is the set and wardrobe. The set is a full

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

interior under a tent on a deserted island, and the clothes (overseen by Jorge Ramirez) feature a seemingly endless supply of pristine white couture and custom tailoring. The timing was such that Rampling (then 30) was making this just as

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the ...

needed to begin shooting " The Innocent" written with Rampling in mind, and so she couldn't appear in what was Visconti's last film. Silvia Manriquez

References

External links

* * 1976 films 1976 drama films English-language Mexican films Films directed by Arturo Ripstein Films set in 1939 Films set in 1940 Films set on uninhabited islands British drama films Mexican drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films 1970s Mexican films {{1970s-UK-film-stub