Featuring a formidable central performance by Laurence Olivier, the BAFTA-nominated television play The Ebony Tower was adapted by John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey) from the novel by John Fowles; a distinguished supporting cast includes Greta Scacchi and Roger Rees.
Henry Breasley (Olivier) is an elderly painter whose secluded retirement is invaded by David Williams (Rees), a brash young artist commissioned to produce a biographical study of the great man. Breasley shares his home in the South of France with two young English girls, both former art students, Diana and Anne. In this strange ménage, David is left in no doubt about his host’s views on modern abstract art. However, he is puzzled by the old man’s relationship with the girls, especially when he also finds himself strongly attracted to Diana.
