A poet is resurrected in Benediction, the latest from writer/director Terence Davies.
Siegfried Sassoon experienced quite a life. As a young man, he was a soldier in World War I, and seeing the horrors firsthand made him a staunch critic of the war and everything that led to it. This was hardly a novel takeaway, but he also happened to have a knack for words, which allowed him to get out these viewpoints with attention-grabbing sharpness. This ran him afoul of the military but put him in league with other prominent writers of his generation, many of whom he had friendships and affairs with as they tried to sort out the rest of their lives.
The film sees Davies again return to a writer of the past, with his last film, A Quiet Passion, imagining the life of Emily Dickinson. The English master is hardly a peddler in stuffy biopics, though. He made a distinct mark with his deeply affecting takes on his own life in films like Distant Voices, Still Lives, and The Terence Davies Trilogy and expanded out from there, becoming one of the most renowned filmmakers of his generation.
Sharing the role of Sassoon as he ages are Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi, with Simon Russell Beale, Jeremy Irvine, and Calam Lynch co-starring.
Benediction is directed by Terence Davies and stars Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi. It will be released in the UK on May 20th and in the US on June 3rd. For international release dates, click here.
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