Wit
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Movie Reviews of Wit
Movie Review: Words cannot describe...
Summary: 5 Stars
... but I'll try. I saw the film in-between my mother's two bouts with breast/bone cancer. At the time, I was completely in awe of Emma Thompson's incredibly personal portrayal of this woman; now, I'm still in awe of her, but also of how accurately and humanely this difficult yet wonderful story treats the main character's struggle at the end of her life's journey. This year in particular has involved quite a lot of death in my family, that of my in-laws, and several of my co-workers. I find myself constantly coming back to the scene with Vivian and her professor discussing the punctuation of "death, thou shalt die." Just a comma separates us from life and life eternal, the professor tells her - not an exclamation point, not a dramatic pause... just a comma. Indeed, this movie will stay with you, and may even help you with your own struggles in coping with death.Movie Review: Incredibly moving, rich, and beautiful.
Summary: 5 Stars
Emma Thompson delivers an amazing performance in Wit. It is easy to see why she is regarded as one of the best actors of our generation. Emma plays a university professor, who is suddenly striken with a destructive type of cancer.
What follows is an amazing experience. We see a woman torn down. We see a woman ripped from her world and placed into a life of pain, and likely death. We see that she can be self assured, competent, and sometimes rude.
We also see that she can cry. This is a perfect adaptation of the human experience. We see that life is filled with pleasures and pains, and that we need to cherish every moment.
This film leaves the viewer with a sense of emptiness, a sense of pain and sadness. But we also walk away with a little more understanding. We walk away with a new perspective. That, I think, should be the goal of all film.
Movie Review: Deeply moving.
Summary: 5 Stars
Emma Thompson's and Mike Nichols's HBO teleplay based on Margaret Edson's stage play was both fascinating and emotional.Thompson plays Vivian Bearing, an English professor who is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. The film follows her from her diagnosis to her death; during this time she questions life and finds her answers while examining the sonnets of John Donne. The implication that life is simply an observation by the people who live is deeply provocative and moving.
Direction by Nichols is superb, and cinematography by Seamus McGarvey is terribly poignant: the final scene in particular is breathtaking. The cast is first-class, led by an impeccable performances by Emma Thompson and four-time Tony-winner (wow!) Audra McDonald. HBO has once again delivered a winning piece of cinematic art to its audiences.
Movie Review: PROFOUNDLY SUITABLE MUSIC
Summary: 5 Stars
I won't comment on the excellence of this film as many commentators have done this in their reviews to date. I simply would like to add that I found the music to be completely appropriate, particularily Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,Nonesuch Records with Soprano Dawn Upshaw). The second movement was inspired by a prayer scratched on the wall of a Nazi Gestapo prison cell by a young Polish women whose life was unexpectedly and tragically ended by the brutalism of WWII. Replace prison with hospital and WWII with cancer and you have the tragedy of Dr Bearing (Emma Thompson). This particular recording had wide appeal and immediately became a best seller when it first became available.
The prayer follows: Mother, no, do not cry,/ Queen of Heaven moste chaste/ Help me always./ Hail Mary.
Movie Review: "Death be not proud..."
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an extremely moving portraial of life and comparison and "death's duel". Emma Thompson is remarkable, touching, briliant. Her charecter narrates us through her 8 month battle with ovarian cancer leading to the simple end that we all will come to--death. She was a rigid English professor who specialized in the paradoxical poetry of John Donne. Her own paradox: she spent her life being inflexable and without compassion, now she finds that the one thing that she truly longs for is compassion. She is dieing alone and is brought to question the value of her life's persuits in contrast with human interaction and connection. What we value in life often matters little when we meet our fate. It causes us to question the value of our own persuits and find the value in those we love. Beautiful.