A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

(UK)

Domino. Director Peter Medak; Producer David Deutsch; Screenplay Peter Nichols; Camera Ken Hodges; Editor Ray Lovejoy; Music Marcus Dods (dir.); Art Director Ted Tester

Alan Bates
Janet Suzman
Peter Bowles
Sheila Gish
Joan Hickson
Murray Melvin

A splendid adaptation by Peter Nichols from his play, simpatico direction by Peter Medak and stellar playing combine to make A Day in the Death of Joe Egg a superior black comedy-drama about a young couple trying to cope with a spastic child.

Lachrymal but unsentimentalized, the gut moral issue is euthanasia. The almost surreal narrative unfolds yo-yo style - from bitter or hilarious (or both) humor to emotional wrench and back again, repeatedly. Medak achieves this with seemingly unerring timing and balance.

Alan Bates and Janet Suzman as the couple who play games to survive their nightmare are firstrate in their sardonic despair. Joe Egg is less about their defective moppet than the struggle of their own connubial existence, the often foiled appetite for carnal contact, and their very sanity.

(Color) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1972. Running time: 108 MIN.

Variety is striving to present the most thorough review database. To report inaccuracies in review credits, please click here. We do not currently list below-the-line credits, although we hope to include them in the future. Please note we may not respond to every suggestion. Your assistance is appreciated.