Romantic drama, biopic, directed by Richard Attenborough in 1993. It is for many his best film.
The professor of literature at Oxford University C.S. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) is a famous writer with a very sober lifestyle, focused on his books and teaching. A bachelor, he lives with his brother, also a bachelor and retired military man.
One day, a great American admirer (Debra Winger), a divorced writer, accompanied by her son, who is traveling in England, wants to meet him personally and contacts him to arrange a visit. They are very well received by both the professor and his brother and a solid friendship soon develops.
In 1993 he won, among others, the following awards and nominations:
Two BAFTA Awards: Best British Film and Actor (Hopkins) and six nominations.
Two Oscar nominations: Actress (Debra Winger) and Adapted Screenplay.
New York Critics Circle: Nominated for Best Actor (Hopkins).
Old saying about truth being stranger than fiction was often been proven by remarkable films being based on true stories. One of such examples is a film that turned out to be one of the most underrated tear-jerking melodramas of its time. This film was based on the unusual events in the life of one of the most influential thinkers of 20th Century. Those events were turned into stage play Shadowlands by William Nicholson and later adapted into BBC TV film in 1985 (starring Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom). Eight years later, Richard Attenborrough, British director specialised for biographical films, made feature film version.
The protagonist of the film is C.S. "Jack" Lewis (played by Anthony Hopkins), British writer who became famous because of his science fiction novels, children's books as well as his very passionate defence of Christianity. Lewis' personal lifestyle, however, is in total contrast with his global fame - he lives a quiet, ascetic and uneventful life of a Oxford professor, shares room with his equally ascetic brother Warnie (played by Edward Harwicke) and spends all free time in intellectual discussions. In 1952 his life is going to change when he receives a letter by Joy Gresham (played by Debra Winger), Jewish American poetess who claims to be a great fan of his work and wants to meet him personally. Soon, Joy comes to England bringing her young son Douglas (played by Joseph Mazzelo) and when meeting between "Jack" and Joy occurs, British professor is both shocked and attracted by Joy's openness and directness. They strike up a friendship and that relationship gradually turns into deep platonic love. Because of that love, "Jack" would agree to marry her in order to help her evade deportation from Britain. Their love, as well as "Jack"'s beliefs would soon be put to the test by Joy's illness.
Unlike previous Attenborrough's films that dealt with Great Men of History like Churchill, Gandhi or Chaplin this reconstruction of Lewis-Gresham love affair deliberately avoids visual spectacle. Instead, Attenborrough, quite aware of anything but spectacular setting, leaves most of the work to the actors. Casting is, naturally, perfect. Anthony Hopkins is excellent as quiet, reserved British intellectual who would discover love in the autumn of his life. But the best surprise comes in the form of Debra Winger, one of the most underrated actresses of past few decades. She manages to show Joy Gresham as a woman who is physically attractive, but whose main tool of seduction comes in the sharpness of her mind. Unfortunately, both of those great actors are unable to leave truly superb impression simply because their roles in same way resemble their past achievements. Hopkins looks too much like a reserved, "stiff-upper-lip" British butler from The Remains of the Day. Winger, on the other hand in the last segment of the film brings back memories of her role in Terms of Endearment made ten years earlier. Their interaction is, however, great, and the rest of the cast is splendid, especially Hardwicke, John Wood and Peter Firth. Young Joseph Mazzelo as the only other American among almost exclusively British cast is also very good. George Fenton also contributes to film's elegiac atmosphere with his melancholic musical score. In the end, Shadowlands should also be praised because this film, unlike most of other melodramas, adds intellectual and philosophical dimension to the romance. As a film that employs our brain as well as our emotion, Shadowlands is one of the best British films made in last few years.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on July 19th 2000)
Introducing "Shadowlands - 1993", the love and separation (a woman who died of cancer) between CS Lewis, who is considered one of the greatest scholars of the 20th century, a professor of theology at the University of Oxford, and Joy Davidman, an Israeli-American poet and extraordinary Protestants. British actors Anthony Hopkins as CS Lewis and Debra Winger as Joy Davidman. Rather than his theological achievements or viewpoints (though not deep and easy to deal with), this film depicts his deeply personal faith views reflected in his love and relationship with Joy, who lived single until her mid-50s and later married Joy. for the first time is.
A real person, CSLewis, has held many titles - an English novelist and member of the Church of England, also a professor of philosophy and Renaissance literature at Cambridge University, and was called Jack by his close friends. - Named after the dog CS Lewis had as a child. Interestingly, as the leading Protestant theologian of the 20th century, he actually lived a young life with some doubts about God's providence after the death of his mother, who died of illness when he was young. In other words, it is said that he lived as an atheist in his heart, and then regained his faith when he grew up. His past words give us a glimpse into his thoughts on God throughout his life:
"We live in the Land of Shadows. The sun always shines somewhere else. Around the corner. On a hill branch. There is)."
“We live in the Land of Shadows, only seeing the shadow of God's greatness in all of His creation. All we have to do is 'turn around' and we will see the true light of God. We can only glimpse the greatness of God through the shadow of God's Creation. All we can do is turn to God...and then we can see His true light)."
It is said that he lectured a lot on pure love(?). There are many scenes like this in films, especially the French scholar and poet Guillaume de Lorris ' Roman de la Rose (I remember reading this book tiredly in high school, but it wasn't just a pure love story) during college. the part is very impressive... "A rose garden surrounded by high walls, a fountain in the middle, and two lenses placed on it... You can't enter the garden, but the roses are reflected in the lens. A person who sees the group" - -- It seems that it is perfect love that he defines. The following line comes from his conversation with an Oxford student (as close as possible):
CSLewis: A garden surrounded by high walls. Inside the garden, fountain. In the fountain, two crystal stones. In crystal, in reflection, a garden of roses. In the middle of the rose, one perfect rosebud. Guillaume de Lorris used a rosebud, of course, as an image. But the picture of what?
Student 1: Love?
CSLewis: What kind of love?
Student 2: Untouched? Unopened like a bud?
CSLewis: Yes, more.
Student 3: Perfect love?
CSLewis: What makes it perfect? Come on. Get up.
Student 4: Is that the polite ideal of love?
CSLewis: What is it? What is one of its essential qualities? Unattainable. The most intense joy lies not in possessing but in wanting. A pleasure that never fades... Lasting happiness only belongs to you when what you desire most is out of reach.
Why did CSLewis, who is no ordinary person, marry Joy, a divorced American writer with two children, at such a young age? What's the attraction? literature? ideology? That's not faith. I'm very curious. I'll have to ask later. This film...maybe just the story of a famous man, but what he loves in the world is his dedication and sacrifice to the opposite sex, and in a broader view, his conformity to God's irresistible providence. a thought lofty enough to make a heartache and sore throat.
Not long after they got married, unfortunately, Joy found out that she had cancer. Watching his wife grow weaker by the day, CSLewis descended into his country house with him, his sons, and his older brother (who is also a professor at the same university). The conversation he had when he decided to share the loft he shared with him when he was a child, lifting his frail wife up the stairs and laying her down on the bed, was heartbreaking:
Joy: How long have you been using this room alone?
CS Lewis: About 25 years, maybe more.
Joy: What do you usually do before bed?
CS Lewis: I just do the things I normally do.
Joy: Show me how you prepare for bed
CS Lewis: Oh, close the curtains. Then remove the pajamas from under the pillow and put them on.
Joy: Where did you put your clothes?
CS Lewis: You hang your clothes on that chair over there, brush your teeth and go to bed.
Joy: Then what?
CSLewis: After removing the blanket, I knelt down and prayed.
Despite her attentive care, one night Joy meets her final moments. At that time, the scene where the husband, CSLewis, looked at his wife, Joy, and said his last prayer while crying was also very heartbreaking. There aren't many movies (I've seen more than 3,000 so far) that make my heart ache and make me thirsty, but there are less than ten, but this one:
I love you, joy. I really love you.
You have made me very happy.
I didn't know I could be so happy.
You are the most righteous person I have ever known.
CSLewis, who was left with his son after the death of his wife... After two of the women he loved became ill (his mother and wife), he abandoned the Protestant view of love and the limitations of men. :
Ah... And where else can you find ending credits as beautiful as these? I do not remember. It was as if the colorful paintings of Post-Impressionist European painters were transferred to the screen.
Clive Staples Lewis, conocido como C.S. Lewis, es uno de los nombres más reconocidos de la literatura fantástica, pero cultivó los más diversos géneros, desde la crítica literaria hasta las conferencias y apologías del cristianismo. Su obra más famosa es la aclamada saga fantástica de Las crónicas de Narnia, obligada referencia en el género y adaptada al cine (varios de sus libros). En 1952, con más de medio siglo de vida, Lewis conoció a la poetisa norteamericana Helen Joy Davidson Gresham. Ella era católica, divorciada y comunista; él era anglicano, soltero y literato. Se conocían poco, por correspondencia, pero de ese encuentro en persona surgió una historia de amor, madura, intensa y desafortunadamente breve porque Helen enfermó de cáncer y murió, dejando a Lewis sumido en el dolor. Tras esa devastadora experiencia, Lewis escribió el libro Una pena en observación, sobre el cual puedes leer más en este enlace
Aunque se ha dicho que la película Shadowlands está basada en esas memorias de Lewis, la verdad es que no es cierto. Esta producción fue precedida por una producción de la BBC, escrita por Norman Stone y William Nicholson, y por una obra de teatro posterior escrita por el segundo. Ambas, se basaron mayormente en el libro Lenten Lands escrito por uno de los hijos de Joy, Douglas Gresham y Shadowlands: The Story of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman, el libro de de Brian Sibley. A grandes rasgos, la cinta cuenta la historia entre C.S. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins), un erudito profesor de literatura en Oxford y escritor célebre, soltero, que vive con su hermano, llevando una vida programada, apacible, austera en muchos sentidos, concentrado en la enseñanza y los libros, hasta que un día, una mujer irrumpe en su vida como un torbellino. Se trata de Helen Joy Gresham (Debra Winger), a quien llaman Joy, una poetisa estadounidense divorciada y gran admiradora de Lewis, que está de viaje por Inglaterra con su hijo Douglas y desea fervientemente conocerlo en persona.
Sin embargo, no se trata de una fan enamorada, ni mucho menos. Si bien es cierto que admira la obra de Lewis, al conocerlo, Joy pronto se muestra desafiante e incisiva frente al comportamiento y las ideas del escritor, quien de pronto se ve sacudido por la actitud de esta mujer que se atreve a desafiarlo. Sus conversaciones e intercambios comienzan a ser cada vez más frecuentes e interesantes, porque aunque constantemente lo cuestiona, la verdad es que Joy logra ver a Lewis en su esencia y no como esa imagen que los demás, él mismo, tienen de de él. Luego, lo que comienza como una atracción intelectual, se revela como un sentimiento más profundo en el momento en que la tragedia se ciñe sobre sus cabezas: Joy es diagnosticada con cáncer y le quedan pocas semanas de vida.
Al inicio de la película habíamos visto a Lewis pronunciar conferencias y charlas sobre el dolor. "La ofrenda del sacrificio es un regalo de Dios", dice en una escena. En otra, pronuncia "Dios quiere que amemos, seamos amados y maduremos. No que seamos felices" y habla de Dios como un escultor que, cincel en mano, talla la piedra que somos para revelar nuestra esencia y nuestra personalidad. El cincel es el dolor y el resultado de esa talla es quienes somos. Todas estas palabras hacen eco en su mente y en la de los espectadores cuando el erudito y calmado escritor es forzado a probar la realidad contenida en ellas. Ante la inminencia de perder a la mujer que ama y que ha encontrado hace poco, ¿es posible aceptar ese dolor fácilmente? ¿verlo como parte de un plan divino? ¿se sostendrá su fe tras esta férrea prueba? Después de lo inevitable, Lewis dice "La experiencia es una maestra cruel. Pero aprenderás".
Es una historia que habla del amor, la fe, la honestidad, el dolor, la resignación ante lo inevitable, pero sobre todo de aprovechar cada instante de la vida y no dar nada por sentado. En una escena, Lewis conversa con un alumno, cuyo padre acaba de fallecer y ante la confesión del estudiante de que amaba mucho a su padre, el escritor le pregunta "¿Él lo sabía?". Porque amarlo no habría sido suficiente, su padre merecía saberlo, escucharlo de sus labios, no sólo inferirlo o sobre entenderlo por su condición de hijo y creo que esa es una de las lecciones más valiosas de la película. Bajo la excelente dirección de Richard Attenborough (Chaplin, Gandhi), el excelente guión de William Nicholson y las impecables actuaciones de la pareja protagonista, este drama se convierte en una de las películas más memorables de las últimas décadas y una de las mejores historias de amor entre personas de edad avanzada (otra es The bridges of Madison County son Meryl Streep y Clint Eastwood) y aunque puede ser algo lenta en algunas partes, invita a duras pero sustanciales reflexiones sobre la vida, la muerte y el amor. Con 7,5/10 puntos, es una opción recomendable para los amantes del buen cine, de los dramas, las películas románticas y las biopics. Que la disfruten.
Reseñado por @cristiancaicedo
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://cristiancaicedo.repollo.org/2019/09/19/shadowlands-pelicula-el-luto-del-amor/
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[Source](https://www.filmaffinity.com/ve/filmimages.php?movie_id=275441)
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