Turtle Diary
| Turtle Diary | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | John Irvin |
| Produced by |
Richard Johnson Bernard Sofronski (Executive Producer) |
| Written by |
Russell Hoban (novel) Harold Pinter (screenplay) |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Geoffrey Burgon |
| Cinematography | Peter Hannan |
| Edited by | Peter Tanner |
| Distributed by | The Samuel Goldwyn Company |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Turtle Diary is a 1985 British film about "people rediscovering the joys of life and love," based on a screenplay adapted by Harold Pinter from Russell Hoban's novel Turtle Diary, directed by John Irvin, and starring Glenda Jackson, Ben Kingsley, and Michael Gambon. The film contains elements of romance, comedy, and drama and has been described as a romantic comedy.
Two lonely Londoners - Neaera Duncan, a children's author (Glenda Jackson), and William Snow, a bookstore assistant (Ben Kingsley) - find common ground when visiting the sea turtles at London Zoo; independently of each other, both perceive that the turtles are unnaturally confined, and they hatch a plan with the assistance of zookeeper George Fairbairn (Michael Gambon) to smuggle them out and release them into the sea, which they ultimately succeed in accomplishing. Their release of the turtles represents metaphorically their release of themselves from their own inhibitions.
Harold Pinter has a cameo role as a man in the bookshop where William and Harriet work.
According to its description at Amazon.com, Turtle Diary has been "Critically hailed as a mini-masterpiece."
In his 1985 Sunday Telegraph review of the film, Castell observes that Pinter's screenplay concentrates on developing dialogue and plot, leaving clues for the actors to convey their characters' subtle emotional and psychological development: "It is hard to think of two actors better matched to play Pinter than Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley. They milk every nuance, point up every missed beat and relish each irony and repetition in the script. … Turtle Diary is a fine film that charts movingly the unnoticed despair of everyday lives, the sufferings of those who endure loneliness in silence."
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Wikipedia