Marquand’s The Eye of the Needle is close enough to Follett’s spy thriller, which does not have a picnic episode. Henry Faber, aka Henry Baker, aka The Needle, waits to connect with a Nazi U-boat to take him back to Germany to meet with Hitler. He’s an accomplished spy and a cold-blooded murderer. Like many spy adventurers,
Faber’s spy kit included a radio snuggled in a picnic basket lost before Faber reached the island.
Like many spy adventurers, Faber momentarily falls for Lucy Rose, who is unhappily married and longing for a sexual escapade. The picnic occurs after Lucy realizes that Faber has murdered her husband. Fearful for her own life and her son, Jo’s, she keeps her sense of balance. When Faber suggests, “Let’s have a picnic,” Lucy volunteers to make sandwiches. She reassures her son that picnics are enjoyable, “Once, we went for a picnic at the bay. You’d enjoy that, wouldn’t you?” Jo is compliant. Faber is impressed with her cool demeanor, “I love you,” he says casually.
The picnic is a dreadful moment, and Lucy cannot wait to escape Faber’s company.
Keeping to the usual pattern of film picnic food, we never know what kind of sandwiches Lucy prepares.
Featured Image: Donald Sutherland as Henry Faber, Kate Nelligan as Lucy Rose, and Jonathan Nicholas Haley as Jo Rose
See Richard Marquand’s The Eye of the Needle (1981). Screenplay by Stanly Mann based on Follett’s The Eye of the Needle, Ken Follett. The Eye of the Needle. 1978