This gem of a movie was buried (and unknown) treasure to me until about a year ago. In that age-old tradition of great surprises from the past, I happened to catch this movie on TCM rather late one summer night. I sought out the DVD (and later, this soundtrack LP) and learned a rather surprising detail behind the making of the movie: The director (Richard Lester) wanted Julie Christie for the role of the seemingly free-spirited (yet deeply complicated) title character, but had to wait a whole year for her to be available. In those ensuing twelve months, San Francisco's 1967 Haight-Ashbury hippie explosion took its many-colored shape. Had this tale of two (rather elegant) star-crossed lovers been filmed a year prior, the visual story would not have benefitted from the stark contrast of a psychedelic backdrop.
