Review of The Public Eye

Is Follow Me, aka The Public Eye, a great film? No, but it a small minor gem that will make you think long after you've seen it. It's quirky. I saw it along time ago, and a web search on another topic made me watch the film again. When I saw it many years ago, I had liked it. Is it a Vertigo thing? The film has a similar premise to Vertigo, but it is a comedy, not a tragedy, and the husband is not the villain, just a flawed human being. But so is the wife, and so is the detective. All three are extremely lonely people, and under the comedy there is an air of deep, sad loneliness, and a feeling of wanting to be connected but being clueless how to go about it. It's also about the choices people make. Mia Farrow plays free spirited wife, but her wanderlust comes from an unstructured childhood -- she's the product of a broken home. Michael Jayston plays the stuffy husband -- although there is humor under his proper personality-- he's just too repressed to let it out. Topol, who plays the detective, has lived an aimless life -- the jack of all trades, the master of none. The star of the movie is the City of London from 50 years ago. Neither Topol or Jayston often played lead roles. Topol's claim to fame was Fiddler on the roof. With Jayston, it was Nicholas and Alexander, a credible turn as Mr. Rochester in the 1973 adaptation of Jane Eyre, and as the Valeyard in Doctor Who. He's quite elderly now but was very pleased when he autographed my copy of the 1973 Jane Eyre in 2021. He was very excited I found a copy and had to show it to another celebrity at the convention in Chicago. Definitely one of those actors brought in the grand tradition of British theatre. It was a pity I didn't realize he had also been in this film -- otherwise I would have asked him about it. As far as the film goes, Mia's Belinda shines here. She makes you want to follow her, and she looks gorgeous in everything she wears, even the hat that looks like a wilted cabbage. The hat. Even after all these years, I never forgot the hat.

Postscript: I have the sad duty to announce that Michael Jayston, the man who played the stuffy husband, passed away on February 5, 2024.