''A Question of Attribution'' is a 1988 one-act

stage play A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than mere reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging ...

, written by

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...

. It focuses on the British art expert and former Soviet agent, Sir Anthony Blunt. It was premiered at the National Theatre, London, on 1 December 1988, directed by

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFT ...

. The stage version of '' An Englishman Abroad'', about Blunt's fellow agent

Guy Burgess Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet double agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection ...

, was also performed on the same bill. The two plays are collectively called '' Single Spies''.Bennett, p. 14 The play was adapted as a 1991 television film of the same name directed by

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger ( ; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood ...

and broadcast as part of the BBC's ''

Screen One ''Screen One'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and distributed by BBC Worldwide, that was transmitted on BBC One from 1989 to 1998. A total of six series were broadcast, incorporating sixty individual films, s ...

'' series. The film was produced by

Innes Lloyd George Innes Llewelyn Lloyd (24 December 1925 – 23 August 1991) was a Welsh television producer and former actor. He had a long career as a producer in BBC drama, which included series such as ''Doctor Who'' and ''Talking Heads''. Early li ...

, a long-time collaborator of the author in his television work, and is dedicated to his memory in a title card at the beginning of the end credits."Screen One: A Question of Attribution"
BBC Genome. Retrieved 16 July 2020 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called the film a "razor-sharp psychological melodrama" and it won the 1992

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

TV award for Best Single Drama.

Plot

The play and subsequent film are based on Blunt's role in the Cambridge Spy Ring and, as

Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures The office of the Surveyor of the King's/Queen's Pictures, in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, is responsible for the care and maintenance of the royal collection of pictures owned by ...

, personal art adviser to Queen Elizabeth II. It portrays his interrogation by an MI5 officer, his work researching and conserving art works, his role as Director of the Courtauld Institute, and his acquaintance with the Queen. Bennett described the piece as an "inquiry in which the circumstances are imaginary but the pictures are real.A Question of Attribution
BFI Screenonline, retrieved 17 January 2006 While supervising the restoration of a dual portrait in which only partial attribution to

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

is thought credible, Blunt discovers a third figure that had been painted over by an unknown artist, and concludes by comparison with a better known triple portrait in London's

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

('' Allegory of Prudence'') that the newly revealed third figure was Titian's son. As Blunt's public exposure as a spy in 1979 draws near, the play suggests that he has been made a scapegoat to protect others in the security service. At the end of the film, the time of Blunt's exposure, Blunt tells Chubb that X-rays had revealed the presence of a fourth and fifth man. One of the sub-texts in the scene with the Queen is whether or not Her Majesty knew that Blunt was a former Soviet spy. They briefly discuss the Dutch

Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...

forger

Han van Meegeren Henricus Antonius "Han" van Meegeren (; 10 October 1889 – 30 December 1947) was a Dutch painter and portraitist, considered one of the most ingenious Art forgery, art forgers of the 20th century. Van Meegeren became a national hero after World ...

, and how his paintings now look like fakes, but were accepted as genuine in the (early) 1940s, and touch on the nature of fakes and secrets. After she has left and an assistant asks what they were talking about, Blunt replies "I was talking about art. I'm not sure that she was."

Casts

:Source: Playscript and BBC.

Radio

The play was adapted for radio in 2006, with Edward Petherbridge as Blunt and Prunella Scales as the Queen in the second."The Saturday Play: Betrayal"
BBC Genome. Retrieved 15 July 2020

References and sources

References

Sources

External links

*
BBC profile of John Schlesinger
retrieved 17 January 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Question of Attribution, A BBC television dramas Cold War spy films Films directed by John Schlesinger Plays by Alan Bennett Plays set in the United Kingdom Plays set in the 1960s British plays adapted into films Cultural depictions of Elizabeth II Cultural depictions of the Cambridge Five Biographical plays about British royalty