DARLING: a hollow shell around an empty interior

DARLING is a film as empty as the shallow young woman whose story it tells. 
Made in 1965 and set in Swinging London this drama charts the rise and rise of Diana Scott (Julie Christie), a beautiful and amoral young model who uses her looks to get what she wants,  and discovers nothing but disappointment when she finally makes it to the top. 

She has no discernable talent beyond the ability to bewitch a variety of men, starting with a tv journalist and ending with an Italian Prince. She uses them for what they can give her and moves on without remorse, but the men, the film makes clear, are as much to blame for what happens to them as Diana is for doing it to them.  The film's intended as a critique on the vapidness and corruption of jet-set society; that breed of shallow hedonists with too much time and money on their hands; people who were chiefly famous for being famous. But director John Schlesinger makes the point within the first thirty minutes and then repeats it over and over for the remaining hour and a half of the film. 
The film's saving grace is Dirk Bogarde as the tv journalist, Robert Gold. He's the only character with real depth and the only one for whom we feel any shred of sympathy. Bogarde plays Gold as a young fogey with a penchant for cardigans, and a passion for the arts. He's serious about his work and wants to share it with Diana. He recognises her for what she is but still allows her to overwhelm him with her passion and her beauty. 
Sadly Bogarde is absent for long stretches leaving us with Christie's monotone performance and Laurence Harvey's one-note riff on the jet-set pimp-procurer stereotype. Harvey's an interesting actor but his character doesn't give him much scope to develop. 
Incredibly Christie won an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe for her performance, which suggests that it wasn't just the men in DARLING who were blinded by her beauty.