Darling Lili

A commercial failure that was savaged and ridiculed at the time, Darling Lili is a glorious film. Edwards' wedding present to Julie Andrews, it is yet another instalment of his ongoing celebration of innocence as the great virtue of life. To understand the film, a simple enough love/spy story set in World War I, one simply has to accept that love (and jealousy) is more important than winning wars. That done, the seemingly bizarre emotional switches of the film stand revealed as the perfect pivots around which Edwards has carefully constructed one of the most satisfying lyrical films in years.