References and quotations include poems by Constantinos Cavafis (The city) and Lord Byron, as well as L.P. Hartley's novel "The go-between" which was adapted to cinema by Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter in 1971, directed by the first, and presenting young Dominic Guard as Leo Colston between Marian (Julie Christie) and Ted Burguess (Alan Bates) all in state of grace.