Development

Schlesinger had the idea for the film when making Far from the Madding Crowd. The film took five years of development. "There were endless delays," said the director. "No one was very keen about our doing the film." There were casting problems. "For what it is it ended up being terribly expensive."^[4]

Writing

The film was partly based on Schlesinger's personal experience as a Jewish English gay man. He approached Penelope Gilliatt, who had recently finished a novel, A Statement of Change, about a love triangle involving a doctor, and asked if she would write a script. They collaborated extensively on the first draft.

The relationship between Schlesinger and Gilliatt was somewhat difficult. According to John Schlesinger biographer William J. Mann, the first draft came out of intensive collaboration and brainstorming sessions between Schlesinger and Gillattt. Schlesinger and producer Joseph Janni did not like Gilliatt's dialogues. By that time, Gilliatt already moved to New York to work for The New Yorker magazine, and did not want to return to London to revise the script. David Sherwin was brought in to do an extensive rewrite. Sherwin and Schlesinger are not credited for the script, because Gilliatt had it in her contract that she would be the sole scriptwriter.^[5][6][7]

After the film's success in the United Kingdom, Gilliatt took the sole credit in the published final script in her interviews, going as far as stating that the "ideas had been hers", while in fact the initial idea was Schlesinger's and the story was very personal to him. Producer Joseph Janni wrote her a letter, asking her to acknowledge the collaborative nature of the final script, stating^{[8][page needed][5]}

I have just received a copy of the book of SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY and I am flabergasted at the note at the back which says that you "first thought of this film script on a train in Switzerland".

I am writing this letter to you because of what has happened for some time with regard to verbal and written statements, ... all made by you with regard to the authorship.... You have gone out of your way to want to create in everybody's mind the impression that the subject and the subsequent script were entirely your creation....

I want to be very clear that we do not want to take away from you any glory or fail to recognise the marvellous work you have done on the script of SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY. I wish, however, that any statement made about this work should correspond to the truth as I have stated it above and the reason for my writing this letter is to ask you to do so, so that we should not be forced, especially when coming to America for the opening of the film, to have to deny certain statements or make declarations which will conflict with yours and which ultimately will not be pleasant for any of us.

Casting

The original choice for Alex was Vanessa Redgrave.

John Schlesinger said he wanted Peter Finch for the role of Daniel Hirsh. However, he was meant to star in a film of Man's Fate so was unavailable.^[4] He then cast Alan Bates but Bates was held up filming The Go-Between (1970), so Ian Bannen was cast. Apparently, Bannen was so nervous about what kissing another male actor on screen might do to his career, he could not concentrate enough to even get going with the part. He later said that losing the role set back his career, and regretted it till his death. He was replaced by Finch who had by then become available.

Schlesinger was thinking of casting Jean Simmons until he saw Glenda Jackson in Women in Love and decided to offer her the role.^[1]

Several actresses (including Dame Edith Evans and Thora Hird) politely refused the part of Glenda Jackson's mother, Mrs. Greville, because they thought the project was too risqué. Dame Peggy Ashcroft accepted, after the director explained to her the elements of the story, and she gladly signed on.

Filming

Filming took place from March to August 1970.

Daniel Day-Lewis made his film debut in an uncredited role as a vandal. He described the experience as "heaven", getting paid £2 to vandalise expensive cars parked near St Alfege Church, Greenwich. The sequence showed children walking alongside a line of parked cars, casually scraping the cars' paintwork with keys, coins, and broken bottles.

Of the kiss scene between Head and Finch, Schlesinger said he wanted to direct it in a "purely natural” way. Both Peter and Murray were totally involved in their parts and they were certainly less shocked by the kiss than some of the technicians."^[3]

"We were eager to make a tender film," said Schlesinger.^[3]

During filming Head was in a motorbike accident and the child actors came down with measles.^[9]

Music

The film makes extensive use of source music including a leitmotif of the trio Soave sia il vento from Mozart's opera Così fan tutte.

Box office

The film performed strongly at the box office in urban centres but was not popular outside these and ultimately lost money.^[11] It grossed £20,149 in its first 13 days of release at the Leicester Square Theatre.^[12]

Critical reception

The film holds an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 30 reviews. The consensus summarizes: "Led by strong performances from its three leads, Sunday Bloody Sunday takes a sophisticated and groundbreaking look at the complexities of love."^[13]

Peter Rainer of Bloomberg News wrote, "It's Finch's finest moment as an actor (and literally a far cry from his most famous role as the "mad prophet of the airwaves" in Network). As for Jackson, she was never better, more variegated."^[14]

This film appeared on both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel's Top 10 list of 1971, listed as No. 5 and No. 6 respectively. Roger Ebert commented, "The official East Coast line on John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday was that it is civilized. That judgment was enlisted to carry the critical defense of the movie; and, indeed, how can the decent critic be against a civilized movie about civilized people? My notion, all the same, is that Sunday Bloody Sunday is about people who suffer from psychic amputation, not civility, and that this film is not an affirmation but a tragedy... I think Sunday Bloody Sunday is a masterpiece, but I don't think it's about what everybody else seems to think it's about. This is not a movie about the loss of love, but about its absence."^[15]

Accolades

Home media

Sunday Bloody Sunday was released in blu-ray by the Criterion Collection in North America and by the BFI in the British Isles.