History Film / TheRecklessMoment

This film is notable for being Creator/MaxOphuls' last American film. It is an adaptation of Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's 1947 novel ''The Blank Wall'', which was re-adapted in 2001 as ''The Deep End'', with Creator/TildaSwinton as the housewife and Creator/GoranVisnjic as the blackmailer who falls in love with her.

Lucia Harper (Bennett) goes to great lengths to warn her daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), about the danger of dating an older and obviously sleazy man. Ignoring her mother's pleas, Bea goes to meet her boyfriend, Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), but finds out that his scheming ways are true, so she hits him and runs away in shock.

Lucia Harper (Bennett) goes to great lengths to warn her daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), about the danger of dating an older and obviously sleazy man. Ignoring her mother’s pleas, Bea goes to meet her boyfriend, Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), but finds out that his scheming ways are true, so she hits him and runs away in shock.

Things aren’t quit so simple, however. Darby owed money to some “business” men. Martin Donnelly (Mason) is one of them and blackmails Lucia.

* AllForNothing: All of Lucia’s efforts to get the blackmail money is all in vain when Donnelly [[spoiler: decides that she no longer needs to pay him]].

* BittersweetEnding /DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Donnelly dies in a car crash, but he protects Lucia by admitting to the murder. He does all of this because he fell in love with her.]]

* {{Blackmail}}: Donnelly blackmails Lucia with her daughter’s love letters to Darby in exchange for $5000.
** [[spoiler: Nagel, Donnelly’s partner, decides to blackmail her instead when Donnelly has a change of heart.]]

* {{Chiaroscuro}}: It’s a FilmNoir! Great examples of this during the climatic scene in the boathouse.
* DisappearedDad: Tom Harper has been gone for a very long time (3 years during the war) and is currently working in Berlin.

* TheFifties: Although the film was made in 1949, there’s 50s post-war malaise all over it.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: Donnelly says that even if the man that the police picked up for Darby’s murder didn’t actually kill him it doesn’t matter because the man was a scumbag anyways.

* {{Jerkass}}: Darby makes it very clear to Bea that he only dated her to get to her family’s wealth.
* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Donnelly [[spoiler: dies, confesses to the murder of Darby even if he didn’t do it,]] just to save the woman he loves from pain and misery.

* MoneyIsNotPower: At least for women during TheForties and TheFifties. Although Lucia isn’t a jerk, she is part of a wealthy upper-class family. However, she can’t use this wealth to help her get blackmail money because of her position. She needs her husbands signature (read: permission) for everything, she doesn’t have collateral (therefore, she doesn’t own anything) to get a loan from a loaning institution, and her valuables aren’t worth much. She's powerless even with all her wealth.

This film is notable for being Creator/MaxOphuls' last American film. It is an adaptation of Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's 1947 novel ''The Blank Wall'', which was re-adapted in 2001 as ''Film/TheDeepEnd'', with Creator/TildaSwinton as the housewife and Creator/GoranVisnjic as the blackmailer who falls in love with her.

This film is notable for being Creator/MaxOphuls' last American film. It was remade in 2001 as ''The Deep End'', with Creator/TildaSwinton as the housewife and Creator/GoranVisnjic as the blackmailer who falls in love with her.

This film is notable for being Creator/MaxOphuls' last American film.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_reckless_moment.jpg]]

* {{Housewife}}: Lucia feels trapped within her own family as the matriarch that holds everything down while her husband is away. This eventually stretches her nerves to a breaking point when Bea accidently kills her boyfriend.
* IdiotBall: Bea may have hit Darby, but [[spoiler: his death seems mostly accidental on his part. He fell over and landed on an anchor.]] Yet, Lucia decides to go hide the body in ''broad daylight''.

* UngratefulBastard: Mostly Bea. Her mother has gone through a lot to cover up her recklessness and mistakes without on word of gratitude.

* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Donnelly [[spoiler dies, confesses to the murder of Darby even if he didn’t do it,]] just to save the woman he loves from pain and misery.

* BittersweetEnding /DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Donnelly dies in a car crash, but he protects Lucia by admitting to the murder. He does sll of this because he fell in love with her.]]

Lucia Harper (Bennett) goes to great lengths to tell her daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), the danger of dating an older, and obviously sleazy man. Ignoring her mother’s pleas, Bea goes to secretly meet this man, Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), but finds out that his scheming ways are true, so she hits him and runs away in shock.

Things aren’t quit so simple, however. Darby owed money to some “business” men. Martin Donnelly (Mason) is one of them and will to blackmail Lucia if she doesn’t fork up $5000.

* AllForNothing: All of Lucia’s efforts to have the blackmail over and done with is all in vain when Donnelly decides that she no longer needs to pay him.

* BittersweetEnding /DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Donnelly dies in a car crash, but he protects Lucia by admitting to the murder. All of this because he fell in love with her.]]

* DisappearedDad: Tom Harper has been gone for a very long time (3 years during the war) and has gone to Berlin for work.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: Donnelly says that even if the man that the police picked up for Darby’s murder didn’t actually kill him it doesn’t matter because the man
* {{Housewife}}: Lucia is feels trapped within her own family as the matriarch that holds everything down while her husband is away. This eventually stretches her nerves to a breaking point when Bea accidently kills her boyfriend.
* IdiotBall: Bea may have hit Darby, but [[spoiler: his death seems accidental. He fell over and landed on an anchor.]] Yet, Lucia decides to go hide the body in ‘’broad daylight’’.

* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Donnelly dies, [[spoiler: confesses to the murder of Darby even if he didn’t do it,]] just to save the woman he loves from pain and misery.

* MamaBear: Lucia does whatever she can to protect Bea from harm.

* UngratefulBastard: Mostly Bea because she doesn’t know all that her mother has gone through to cover up her recklessness and mistakes.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Donnelly. He expresses that meeting Lucia made him want to change into a better man.

* MoneyIsNotPower: At least for women during TheForties and TheFifties. Although Lucia isn’t a jerk, she is part of a wealthy upper-class family. However, she can’t use this wealth to help her get blackmail money because of her position. She needs her husbands signature (read: permission) for everything, she doesn’t have collateral (therefore, she doesn’t own anything) to get a loan from a loaning institution, and her valuables aren’t worth much.

* BigFancyHouse:

* BittersweetEnding/DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Donnelly dies in a car crash, but he protects Lucia by admitting to the murder. All of this because he fell in love with her.]]

Lucia Harper (Bennett) goes to great lengths to tell her daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), the danger of dating an older, and obviously sleazy man. Ignoring her mother’s pleas, Bea goes to secretly meet this man, Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), but finds out that his scheming ways are true, so she hits him and runs away in shock.

This film is notable for being Creator/MaxOphuls last American film.

* DisappearedDad: Tom Harper has been gone for a very long time (3 years at work) and has gone to Berlin for work.

* Chiaroscuro: It’s a FilmNoir! Great examples of this during the climatic scene in the boathouse.

''The Reckless Moment'' (1949) is a FilmNoir directed by Creator/MaxOpuls, starring Creator/JoanBennett and Creator/JamesMason.

This film is notable for being Creator/MaxOpuls last American film.