BENEDICTION
synopsis
Siegfried Sassoon was a complex man 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's continuation of the war when he returned from service. His poetry was inspired by his experiences on the Western Front and he became 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. At the same time, broken by the horror of war, he made his life's journey a quest for salvation, trying to find it within the conformity of marriage and religion. 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.
international title: | Benediction |
original title: | Benediction |
country: | United Kingdom |
sales agent: | Bankside Films |
year: | 2021 |
genre: | fiction |
directed by: | Terence Davies |
film run: | 137' |
screenplay: | Terence Davies |
cast: | Jack Lowden, Simon Russell Beale, Peter Capaldi, Gemma Jones, Kate Phillips, Ben Daniels, Geraldine James, Jeremy Irvine, Anton Lesser, Lia Williams, Kellie Shirley |
cinematography by: | Nicola Daley |
film editing: | Alex Mackie |
art director: | Andy Harris |
costumes designer: | Annie Symons |
producer: | Michael Elliott |
co-producer: | Deborah Aston |
executive producer: | Paul Ashton, Margarethe Baillou, Lizzie Francke, Rose Garnett, Peter Hampden, Jack Lowden, Norman Merry, Walli Ullah |
production: | Emu Films, M.Y.R.A. Entertainment Europe |