The Pumpkin Eater

Powerful drama based on the novel by Penelope Mortimer. A mother of six suffers a nervous breakdown after learning that her third husband has been unfaithful. When she discovers that she is pregnant again, she is wracked with indecision about her future. Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay, and Anne Bancroft received an Oscar nomination for her performance., A woman’s life is shattered when she finds out about her husband’s infidelity. Matters are complicated further when she finds herself pregnant. Stars Anne Bancroft, Peter Finch, Maggie Smith., Drama, set in ’60s London and based on the novel by Penelope Mortimer, about a mother of eight (Oscar-nominated Anne Bancroft) who finds her family life in turmoil when she uncovers the secrets of her third husband’s secret affairs., Anne Bancroft stars as a restless, twice-married British woman with six children, whose third husband is a fledgling screenwriter (Peter Finch). When success spins Finch’s head around, he begins to dally with women other than his wife. Meanwhile, Bancroft is forced to stay home and play “domestic goddess”, a role for which she is utterly unsuited. After suffering a nervous breakdown, Bancroft wanders the streets of London in a vain search for a sympathetic ear. She eventually comes to grips with the situation at hand–but as in most of playwright Harold Pinter’s works, the characters of The Pumpkin Eater are just as unfulfilled in the last scene as they were in the first. Anne Bancroft won a Cannes Film Festival award for her performance in this film., Harold Pinter’s intense study of a troubled marriage.