Sarah Miles makes strength look tiring, and that is why we value her. The sensuality of her early roles is only part of her appeal; in Hope and Glory, she gives an affectionate family film some necessary adult weariness.
Fi1m perspective
In Hope and Glory (1987), Sarah Miles makes keeping a family going look like work. As Grace, she gives the domestic scenes enough weight to hold our attention alongside Bill’s adventures. We were moved by the tiredness she allows into the part, because carrying on never looks quite as easy as the film’s affection might suggest. There is room for an adult’s weariness in John Boorman’s funny account of wartime childhood, and she makes sure we notice it.
Her early reputation was more concerned with sensuality, particularly as Vera in Joseph Losey’s The Servant (1963). Patricia in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966) and the leading role of Rosy Ryan in David Lean’s Ryan’s Daughter (1970) belong to that first prominent stretch. The work that followed was uneven, with a quieter period before the later character parts. Those later parts included Alice de Janzé in White Mischief (1987) as well as Grace; it is the latter we would put first for anyone approaching her work.
The sex-symbol typecasting was restrictive, and it remains an inadequate way of describing her usefulness on screen. Miles brings emotional intensity to a mother who has to carry on, without making strength look like an inexhaustible resource. Alongside Sammi Davis as Dawn, she sustains our interest in the family beyond the boy. These adult concerns could easily seem like interruptions in a film whose children are such good company, but the performances give them weight of their own.
There is a limit to what she can repair. Boorman is fond enough of almost everyone to make their troubles seem too manageable, and even Miles’s visible effort cannot entirely prevent the nostalgia from softening the film. The children’s pleasure in wartime disruption is convincing and quietly troubling, enough to make that softness worth tolerating. Start with Hope and Glory, and give the adults as much attention as the children.
Biography
Sarah Miles is an English actress. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began her film career in the early 1960s.
She is known for her roles in The Servant (1963), Blow-Up (1966), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Ryan's Daughter (1970), The Big Sleep (1978), Venom (1981), White Mischief (1987) and Hope and Glory (1987), in which she played Grace. She received an Academy Award nomination for Ryan's Daughter and a BAFTA nomination for Hope and Glory.
Miles was married to playwright and screenwriter Robert Bolt and is the sister of film director Christopher Miles. She retired from acting after 2004.
