Rent Castaway (1986)

Interesting If Bizarre Romance - Castaway review by GI

Director Nicolas Roeg's bizarre exploration of a mismatched relationship and told within a survival narrative that includes romance and bitterness and a journey of self discovery. Loosely based on a true story this has Amanda Donohoe as a young, bored woman, Lucy, who answers a 'lonely hearts' advertisement of a middle aged man wanting a 'wife' to spend a year on a tropical desert island alone with him. She warms to Gerald, a hedonistic and somewhat contradictory character and accepts his invitation. Oliver Reed plays Gerald in what is very clearly an interpretation of his own personality. And whilst this adventure is Gerald's idea and dream it's Lucy who embraces the island and the freedom it offers. However they are both unprepared for the rigours of the experience and whilst Gerald still harbours the fantasy of a free love sexual life on the island Lucy is more for the nature and pleasures that the isolation brings causing significant strain on their strange relationship with each other. The film charts an interesting relationship though and Roeg is clearly attempting to highlight the contrast between a dream and reality. Certainly a film for fans of this director although it lacks his trademark surrealistic story telling.