The turbulent life of First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon, through the eyes of one of the most distinguishable authors in contemporary cinema. The portrait of a complex personality who survived the horrors of fighting in the first world war and was decorated for his bravery, but who became a vocal critic of the government when he returned from service presents in visual language the magnificent yet quiet legacy of one of the leading war poets of the era. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London’s literary and stage world, he embarked on affairs with several men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality. His story is one of a troubled man in a fractured world searching for peace and self acceptance, something which speaks as meaningfully to the modern world as it did then.
Benediction
Benediction
No physical screenings scheduled. |
- Direction: Terence Davies
- Script: Terence Davies
- Cinematography: Nicola Daley
- Editing: Alex Mackie
- Sound: Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley, Adam Fletcher
- Actors: Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Gemma Jones, Ben Daniels, Kate Phillips, Simon Russell Beale, Jeremy Irvine, Geraldine James
- Production: EMU Films
- Producers: Michael Elliott
- Co-producers: Deborah Aston
- Costumes: Annie Symons
- Production Design: Andy Harris
- Sets: Alison Harvey
- Make Up: Veronica McAleer
- Format: DCP
- Color: Color
- Production Country: United Kingdom
- Production Year: 2021
- Duration: 137'
- Contact: Bankside Films
Terence Davies
Terence Davies was born in Liverpool in 1945. He is a screenwriter, director, novelist, and actor, widely considered as one of the most important contemporary filmmakers. His first three short films, Children, Madonna and Child, and Death and Transfiguration, were combined in The Terence Davies Trilogy. His feature films are Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), winner of the Golden Leopard in Locarno, The Long Day Closes (1992), which competed in Cannes, The Neon Bible (1995), The House of Mirth (2000), Of Time and the City (2008), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Sunset Song (2015), and A Quiet Passion (2016). In 2008, the Thessaloniki IFF presented a retrospective of his work.
Filmography
1976 Children (short)
1980 Madonna and the Child (short)
1983 Death and Transfiguration (short)
1988 Distant Voices, Still Lives
1992 The Long Day Closes
1995 The Neon Bible
2000 The House of Mirth
2008 Of Time and the City
2011 The Deep Blue Sea
2015 Sunset Song
2016 A Quiet Passion
2021 Benediction
