Say Hello to Yesterday

Say Hello To Yesterday
Directed by	Alvin Rakoff
Screenplay by	Alvin Rakoff and Peter King from an original story by Alvin Rakoff and Ray Mathew
Produced by	Josef Shaftel
Starring	Jean Simmons - Woman Leonard Whiting - Boy Evelyn Laye - Woman's Mother John Lee - Woman's Husband Jack Woolgar - Boy's Father Constance Chapman - Boy's Mother Gwen Nelson - Char (labour exchange) Richard Pescud - Official (Labour Exchange) Laraine Humphreys - Young teenager in Boutique Ben Aris - Floor Walker Nora Nicholson - Aged Lady Carla Challoner - Au Pair Girl Jimmy Gardner - Balloon Seller

Say Hello to Yesterday is a 1970 film directed by the Canadian born Alvin Rakoff, on whose original story the film is based. Starring Jean Simmons and Leonard Whiting, it is ' a fast moving account of ten hours in the life of a suburban housewife' and was made at Twickenham Studios and on location in London and Hampshire.

Plot

From one of the upper middle class suburbs of London, the Woman, having just quarrelled with her husband is going to London, shopping. Unhappily she drives to the station. Among the crowd as she boards the train is the Boy. He is 22 today. He is bored. He is determined to make the day a different one.

The Boy moves up and down the crowded corridors. The Woman in her non-smoking compartment badly wants a cigarette and starts to scrape away a ' No Smoking' sign. The Boy is attracted by this middle class rebellion, pulls the sign off and presents it to her says ' Hello' and tries to engage her in conversation.

Later, battling her way into a department store she finds he has followed her. Leaving the store, she thinks she has lost him. But he catches up with her on a crowded pavement. She tries to throw him off, he finds her again. She flees to her mother's apartment - followed by the Boy. The Woman is desperately embarrassed and tries to explain, but her mother treats the whole thing lightly and the Woman learns with surprise that her mother had a past. Mother says ' He's good for you. If you have an affair with him you'll regret it. On the other hand if you don't have an affair with him you'll also regret it...' Inevitably, they do have an affair.

According to the director Alvin Rakoff, 'Say Hello to Yesterday' was 'a 1970 Brief Encounter, a picture designed purely for entertainment, with no morals or messages unless the public like to find them.'

Jean Simmons returned to London after a five year absence to star in the film,and shared the star billing with Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo, Leonard Whiting.