THE LIFETAKER

Onyx Films UK

Producer/Director/Original Screenplay: Michael Papas
Cast: Terence Morgan - Peter Duncan - Lea Dregorn 

English language, 35mm Scope, Technicolor, running time 95 minutes

ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL - BRUSSELS FILM FESTIVAL -  BRIGHTON FESTIVAL - BRITISH FILM EVENT AT NATIONAL FILM CENTRE, TOKYO

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“THE LIFETAKER” is an atmospheric, sometimes macabre thriller, intended at a variety of levels and interpretations... James represents a society  that  disguises corrupt and brutal practices with a veneer of civility and concern. Lisa personifies life and beauty stifled and twisted by environment. ... Finally the film may be seen as a kind of odyssey of the boy Richard embarking on life in the adult world, being initiated into it, corrupted by it and, in inheriting it, becoming its victim.”   

Michael Papas’ independent UK feature "THE LIFETAKER"  ignited controversy when it premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival at the personal invitation of Hub Bals. This stylish, hard-hitting parable enjoyed a career in Europe and was selected for a special season of British features in Tokyo. “THE LIFETAKER”  was internationally distributed to, amongst others, the USA (Sony), Japan, Spain and most European countries. UIP distributed the film in Greece.  The film was scheduled to be released nationwide in the UK, but the head of EMI distribution canceled the release after viewing the completed film, due to its controversial themes.  It has never been distributed in its country of origin, but has gained cult status over the years.

Terence Morgan, Peter Duncan and Lea Dregorn in "The Lifetaker"

"I saw an extraordinary film. Its violence and eroticism are striking particularly for a British film – it was part-financed by the National Film Finance Corporation.  The film examined rituals with a formality that precluded prurience and a style that oozed originality. “                   QUENTIN FALK - SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

Terence Morgan and Lea Dregorn in "The Lifetaker"

" 'The Lifetaker'  is a controversial film...  commercially-polished, provocative.  Shows symbolically how a younger generation is corrupted by its elders.             Here was an acutely-thinking film-maker confronting us with the consequences of all the sex and violence which we so willingly consume, week in, week out, in our cinemas."                                                                                                                                                                 B.J.BERTINA, de VOLKSKRANT   


                           

Peter Duncan and Terence Morgan in "The Lifetaker"

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
"The Lifetaker  has remained all but absent from theatrical and home cinema distribution since it was made, and has never been granted a proper place within any serious history of British cinema. More’s the pity, because Michael Papas’ stylish and erotically charged tale of obsession is not only the quintessence  of the kind of film they don’t make anymore, but is also radically unlike the kind of film they made even then....      

Dimitri Andreas, Peter Duncan, Anna Mottram, Paul Beech and Terence Morgan in "The Lifetaker"

... An intense three-hander, the film feels at times like Pinter; its carefully constructed and hermetically sealed universe working towards an inevitable and devastating eruption. At others, it exudes the flavour of international art cinema. Ultimately, though, Papas’ lush widescreen frame is his own, and his consistent use of inch-perfect composition, bold camera moves, sumptuous colour schemes and daring set pieces ensures that this unjustly obscure work is as unique as anything you’re ever likely to see from these shores...

Peter Duncan and Lea Dregorn in "The Lifetaker"

..."With its dizzying abandonment of the measured art of formal combat, the final sequence clearly echoes the ape sequence in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (68) and even perhaps pre-empts the visceral nightclub scene in Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible (2002), both of which explore the relationship between intelligence and violent rage....  In The Lifetaker, too, the relationship between knowledge and violence is key." 
                                                                                                                                                SAM DUNN  (BFI)  in   "OFFBEAT"  edited by Julian Upton

Peter Duncan in "The Lifetaker"

     

Terence Morgan and Peter Duncan in "The Lifetaker"