Any Human Heart

An adaptation of William Boyd’s best-selling novel, Any Human Heart tells the story of Logan Mountstuart’s long and rackety life, one which spans every decade of the twentieth century, in all its fantastic and humdrum, dangerous and tranquil, tragic and humorous aspects. 

The four films follow Logan from his time in Oxford; through literary market success with the publication of his ‘racy’ novel ‘The Girl Factory’; through numerous affairs and two marriages; one tragic true love; adventures as a spy behind enemy lines; flirtations with Wallis Simpson; encounters with Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming, sexual scandal in the New York art scene; destitution in Pimlico; unlikely heroism to a final and perhaps even contented death.  Although it would appear to the outside that his life has been defined by a combination of random quantities of good and bad luck for Logan, if he really looked closely, it has probably been more accurately defined by sex. 

While it is compelling, pacy, witty, sexy, emotional and clever it is also a brilliant and innovative charting of the history of the 20th Century.  Logan has the habit of popping up, Zelig-like, at pivotal moments in 20th Century history and teetering on the brink of immortality before, inevitably, plunging back into obscurity.  Logan’s journey touches on key moments and movements that still shape our times in the 21st Century: the pre-war emergence of the working class power and the end of establishment complacency; the rise of European Fascism; the last global conflict that was World War 2; the zenith of American hegemony in the 1950s and 60s; the emergence of political terrorism (the Baader-Meinhof Gang); the squalor and degradation of urban poverty; the long shadow of the 2nd World War; and finally the serenity and wisdom that a long, fully-lived life can provide.
 
Director: Michael Samuels
Writer: William Boyd
Producers: Lynn Horsford and Lee Morris
Executive Producer: Sally Woodward Gentle

Technical details:
Special Features:
IN OXFORD WITH SAM CLAFLIN
MATTHEW MACFADYEN ON LOCATION IN SPAIN
INTERVIEW WITH JIM BROADBENT
KIM CATTRALL ON 'GLORIA'
GILLIAN ANDERSON AND TOM HOLLANDER ON PLAYING THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF WINDSOR
HAYLEY ATWELL ON 'FREYA'
ON THE SET OF 'ANY HUMAN HEART'
FROM PAPER TO SCREEN - WILLIAM BOYD DISCUSSES 'ANY HUMAN HEART'