'Benediction' - new film about Siegfried Sassoon

[seaJane]

Spotted in another part of the social media forest:

https://thefilmstage.com/benediction-trailer-terence-davies-captures-the-life-of-english-poet-siegfried-sassoon/

[maxi]

Thank you for posting the reminder seaJane which I look forward to seeing.

I visited his grave in Mells in Somerset where, quite bizarrely, the Wurzels were headlining a musical festival in a field adjoining the Churchyard.

I am aware of his Great War experiences but I only have scant knowledge of his life following the conflict and hopefully this will be enlighten me.

Thanks again

[Michelle Young]

There’s also  a film out about Robert Graves, The Laureate.

https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/the-laureate-review-1235155837/

 

[ilkley remembers]

Saw the trailer for Benediction last September at the local 'boutique' cinema but since I hadn't any heard anything more assumed it was going straight to one of the streaming services. From memory it is more about his tortured post war mental state as he agonised about survivors guilt and homosexuality. His relationship with Ivor Novello appears to be central to the plot. Peter Capaldi makes an appearance as does the wonderful Simon Russell Beale.

 

Interestingly one of the more recent members of the Sassoon family has written a book about the rise of the dynasty called 'The Global Merchants' and is reviewed in todays Sunday Times

Edited 13 February , 2022 by ilkley remembers

[Marilyne]

Interesting that two such movies would pop up around the same period. The trailer for "Benediction" looks good and I'd be tempted to go should I find a cinema in these parts of the world that shows it... 

M;

[seaJane]

On 12/02/2022 at 18:40, maxi said:

visited his grave in Mells in Somerset

LIkewise, in 2016. Lots of GW-related monuments inside as well.

[David Filsell]

It will be interesting to see if the film covers Sassoon's involvement with Graves.

Regards

David

[maxi]

 

[Dust Jacket Collector]

On 14/02/2022 at 05:22, David Filsell said:

It will be interesting to see if the film covers Sassoon's involvement with Graves.

Regards

David

No mention of Graves at all. Found the film to be rather a curate’s egg - good in parts. The transition from the earlier, reasonably happy, Sassoon to the bitter, monosyllabic older version wasn’t really explained. And was Ivor Novello really that vile?

[RedCoat]

I've never been so excited by the title of a thread and so disappointed after I'd clicked on it. What a load of woke 2022 garbage. 

[The Scorer]

I've seen it, and thought that it was quite good ... but it left quite a lot of unanswered questions - the major one being how and why did the transition actually happen, as asked by DJC above.   

[Dust Jacket Collector]

40 minutes ago, RedCoat said:

I've never been so excited by the title of a thread and so disappointed after I'd clicked on it. What a load of woke 2022 garbage. 

? I was definitely awake for the whole film.

[RedCoat]

1 hour ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

? I was definitely awake for the whole film.

I'm tired of seemingly everything being hijacked by fashionable political agendas. If I were going to make a film about Sassoon, the last thing I would think of is his relationship with Ivon Novello and his struggles with homosexuality. Wouldn't a film dedicated to his poetry and experiences during the First World War be more appropriate?

 

[Dust Jacket Collector]

5 hours ago, RedCoat said:

I'm tired of seemingly everything being hijacked by fashionable political agendas. If I were going to make a film about Sassoon, the last thing I would think of is his relationship with Ivon Novello and his struggles with homosexuality. Wouldn't a film dedicated to his poetry and experiences during the First World War be more appropriate?

 

Not sure it’s anything to do with being ‘woke’. Sassoon struggled his whole life with his sexuality which was why he entered into his eventually unsuccessful marriage. Although the War never left him it only occupied a few years of his life. I think there have been other films covering his War years.

[RedCoat]

5 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Not sure it’s anything to do with being ‘woke’. Sassoon struggled his whole life with his sexuality which was why he entered into his eventually unsuccessful marriage. Although the War never left him it only occupied a few years of his life. I think there have been other films covering his War years.

All good, I just think it's a film I will avoid.

My Great Grandfather, a Major and MC winner was a passionate amateur poet. He played cricket against Sassoon on a number of occasions, and I have often wondered what they must have chatted about over sandwiches and tea in the club house!

[Dust Jacket Collector]

50 minutes ago, RedCoat said:

All good, I just think it's a film I will avoid.

My Great Grandfather, a Major and MC winner was a passionate amateur poet. He played cricket against Sassoon on a number of occasions, and I have often wondered what they must have chatted about over sandwiches and tea in the club house!

Judging by the Sassoon portrayed in the film, he probably didn’t say a word!

Overall I was disappointed by it. Good to get any sort of film on him I suppose & Simon Russell Beale was excellent.

It seems that Ivor Novello eventually took up with Eddie Marsh, Churchill’s secretary. He’s generally considered to be one of the great intellectuals of the period & a sponsor of many of the War poets, so maybe Novello wasn’t quite as ghastly after all.

[MartH]

There is a dormant member of the forum who met Sassoon when he was at Claire College, then tired old reticent man.

[Gunner Bailey]

I saw the film at the cinema. Filled in some gaps in my knowledge of Sassoon, especially the relationship with Novello. 

Generally well made, with some good attention to period detail. You just have to remember it's a film, not 100% history.

[Hyacinth1326]

The film left me unengaged.  I would rather it had concentrated on his wartime experiences or even Craiglockhart (Regeneration) rather than his forlorn relationships with those uberhundin  Novello and Tennant. There again I did not realise before watching that this was a Terence Davies project.  The acting from messrs. Lowden, Capaldi and Lesser was superb but ultimately I remained indifferent to the whinging old curmudgeon.  

Edited 4 July , 2022 by Hyacinth1326

[Gunner Bailey]

6 hours ago, Hyacinth1326 said:

The film left me unengaged.  I would rather it had concentrated on his wartime experiences or even Craiglockhart (Regeneration) rather than his forlorn relationships with those uberhundin  Novello and Tennant. There again I did not realise before watching that this was a Terence Davies project.  The acting from messrs. Lowden, Capaldi and Lesser was superb but ultimately I remained indifferent to the whinging old curmudgeon.  

I agree with you there. It's a bit like to sitting down to a promised good meal and then leaving the table a little underwhelmed.

[ilkley remembers]

Watched Benediction over the weekend on one of the streaming services but not sure which as I do not have access to the TV remote in our house.

 

I know that it has had some decent reviews in the press, but I was decidedly underwhelmed by the production. Indeed felt that it was over long, slow paced and bordering on the turgid.

 

I suppose Terence Davies is attempting to present Sassoon as a tragic figure but this hardly works as there is little evidence of real tragedy in the film.  Nor does the films disjointed episodic  structure help, simply distilling  his life as; War veteran with survivor’s guilt struggles with moral dilemmas over his sexual ambiguity and ends up a grumpy old man in ‘nowheresville’ having bizarrely developed a mild Scottish accent.

 

There are one or two good lines uttered by the ‘mannequin’ who plays  Ivor Novello, and Anton Lesser as a sort of cross between Quentin Crisp and Isadora Duncan did make me laugh, although, I don’t suppose that was the reaction that the director intended. Thought the best line in the film went to Lady Ottoline Morrell when she said of one of her own productions that “…it was probably best seen whilst semi-conscious” which rather summed up my appreciation of the blessings bestowed by this Benediction

Edited 5 July , 2022 by ilkley remembers

[Hedley Malloch]

On 20/06/2022 at 06:21, RedCoat said:

I've never been so excited by the title of a thread and so disappointed after I'd clicked on it. What a load of woke 2022 garbage. 

'Woke'? OK - give us a non-woke version of the the themes and personalities covered in the movie and then say why your version is better.

[Hedley Malloch]

One point which has been missed by the gimlet-eyed pedants who are known to frequent this Forum is the fleeting presence of a a loco bearing LMS signage in a scene set during WW1. The LMS was created during the 1923 grouping of railway companies and therefore this scene could not have happened! This lack of respect for the known historical facts completely ruined the movie for me. I sobbed so much that my popcorn became soggy and salty. When I approached the box-office staff to demand a refund, they merely looked at me in a slightly pitying manner.

Terence Davies' message was confused. Was it about Sassoon's (not-too) tortured sexuality, the gay theatrical world  of the inter-war period, or his personal relationships with Novello and others? Where the movie did score was in its depiction of the waspish, witty dialogue and life-style of the educated theatrical personalities. I was reminded of the statement attributed to 'Binky' Beaumont, a well-known West End theatrical manager and personality who served in WW1. When later asked about his experiences, he sighed heavily and said, 'The people, my dear - the people.'

What was interesting too was its insight into the how SAD operated. At his court-martial he is told he is to be sent to Craiglockhart rather than face a firing-squad. The reason? He knows Winston Churchill. Sassoon makes a similar point in one of his books when when he comments that sub-standard officers were simply managed out of the situation rather than subjected to formal disciplinary proceedings. No such luck for the PBI who were not embedded in such privileged social networks.

One point about Sassoon's history was his conversion to Catholicism. He did this late in life. He had hoped that Father Ronald Know would supervise the process, but Knox was too ill. Visitors to Mells Cemetery might notice Knox's grave is close to that of Sassoon.

[RedCoat]

46 minutes ago, Hedley Malloch said:

'Woke'? OK - give us a non-woke version of the the themes and personalities covered in the movie and then say why your version is better.

No 

[seaJane]

13 hours ago, Hedley Malloch said:

Visitors to Mells Cemetery might notice Knox's grave is close to that of Sassoon.

Indeed it is. Mells graveyard (rather, strictly speaking, than cemetery) and church are both well worth a visit for the GW connections; artists include Eric Gill, Sir Alfred Munnings and Sir Edward Burne-Jones.