Benediction

When award-winning British filmmaker Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives, 1988) focuses his camera on a historical figure, classic craftsmanship with a few surprising twists is guaranteed. For instance, this biopic about poet Siegfried Sassoon flits back and forth through time, with Davies cannily employing archival footage, to make the horrors of World War One tangible.

Sassoon was injured while serving on the front, and was decorated for his courage upon his return. However, his poetry made him one of the most renowned critics of the war. He was much loved in aristocratic and artistic circles, and had affairs with a number of men, in his search for acceptance as a gay man. He nevertheless decided to marry a woman. The wonderfully complex role of Sassoon is played – in an understated manner – by Jack Lowden, known for Dunkirk (2017) and his portrayal of the vocalist Morrissey in England is Mine (2017).

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Available on Festival Scope Pro from 26 January 9:00 CET to 14 February 9:00 CET