Classic Boat — February 2018

CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2018 69

The great tragedy about the Crowhurst story is that he

gets himself into an impossible situation not through a

great act of dishonesty – he didn’t start the race intending

to cheat – but through small acts of self-deception. He

really believed he could create a ground-breaking yacht

that would set new records and win the race, and refused

to accept that things were going wrong. It was

overconfidence and foolishness that led him to gamble

his home on the success of the venture, and once that

was in place, there was no going back. It’s this almost

Shakespearean aspect to the Crowhurst story that gives it

resonance – endowing it with a ‘there but for the grace

of God’ universality – and which has inspired books,

poems, films, plays, songs and even an opera. Despite

having read (and written) about the story many times

before, I was gripped by the emotional intensity of this

movie. Colin Firth is convincing as the charming but

flawed inventor and Rachel Weisz is serene as his pained

wife. Some of the other characters (the businessman, the

press agent) are rather caricatured and played for laughs,

but the movie carries you along with its compelling

narrative. And the Kodachrome-style sequences of

Devon are simply glorious – Teignmouth has never

looked more beautiful!

It so happened that Robin Knox-Johnston was in the

audience at the viewing I attended, and I had the good

fortune of sitting right in front of him – which was

slightly eerie given he was such a key player in the events

being depicted before us (after Teignmouth Electron was

found, Knox-Johnston donated all his prize money to

Crowhurst’s widow, Clare). When the movie was over,

he told me he thought it was a very fair depiction –

though he reckoned the waves in the Atlantic are never

as big as the ones in the movie. Were there mistakes?

There were a few – mainly to do with the sea states in

the close-ups being different to those in the long shots –

but not enough to ask for my money back. All round a

great movie that will be enjoyed by sailing aficionados

and landlubbers alike.

The Mercy is released on 9 February in the UK.

Main and left:

Colin Firth as

Donald

Crowhurst, with

Rachel Weisz as

his wife, Clare.

Above:

Crowhurst sets

sail on his

ill-fated voyage

50 years ago

PPL

STUDIO CANAL