Shadowlands (1993)

Based on the 1989 stage play which was itself based on the 1985 TV film by William Nicholson, this is an absolutely brilliant film which explores what it means to love someone. The script by Nicholson is beautifully written and there is not a false moment in the entire film. This is my first exposure to his work but he has a fantastic understanding of human nature. I think that the general thrust of C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham's friendship turned romance is portrayed accurately but the film takes some liberties in depicting her as only having one son as opposed to two and in having their entire relationship play out over the course of a year or so as opposed to eight. The film is wonderfully directed by Richard Attenborough, whose excellent eye for casting is once again in evidence.Anthony Hopkins, making his fifth and final appearance in an Attenborough film, is simply superb as C.S. Lewis, who is depicted at the beginning of the film as being content with his life. He is a successful author, a popular speaker on religious issues and an Oxford don who lives with his beloved elder brother Warnie in a nice little cottage. A lapsed atheist, he is a devout Anglican who argues that "pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." However, when the American poet Joy Gresham enters his life, she knocks him for six. In real life, Warnie said that Joy was "quite extraordinarily uninhibited" and that is the perfect way to describe her. Debra Winger, whom I had never seen in a film before, is likewise brilliant in the role of Joy. Whereas Lewis is shy and often does not know what to say around her as he has little to no experience with women, Joy typically says exactly what is on her mind, in the process shocking Lewis as they are things that he may have been thinking but would never say. At one point, she accuses him of having an insular existence and of deliberately shutting himself off from anyone or anything that might hurt him. The reason for this seems to be the death of his mother when he was nine. Over the course of the film, he gradually falls in love with her but at first seems unable to process it as it has seemingly never happened before. Before Joy came on the scene, he thought that life was fulfilling but he later realised that he was lacking something, something which she provided.After Joy is diagnosed with cancer, Lewis begins to face the prospect of a life without her. There is a very moving scene in which Lewis cries in a church in Oxford and tells his close friend Reverend Harry Harrington how much he loves Joy, which is the first time that he admits it even to himself. They previously married in a registry office so she and her young son Douglas could stay in England but he wants their union to be recognised before God so they are married again by a minister in her hospital room. While she goes into remission and stays with him in Oxford for a time, her cancer is too far gone for her to make a complete recovery. After a quick honeymoon of a sort in Herefordshire, she dies, leaving Lewis and Douglas devastated. These are the most moving scenes in the film as Lewis finds that he is hardly able to live without her. Her death makes him question his strong faith and he is no longer able to rationalise suffering as God's way of perfecting humanity. Since Douglas has lost his mother at nine, Lewis knows exactly how he is feeling but he does not know what to say to him. When they finally talk about her death, they break down in tears in one another's arms in one of the most heartbreaking scenes that I have ever seen in a film.The film is carried by Hopkins and Winger, who was deservedly nominated for an Oscar, but it has an excellent supporting cast: Edward Hardwicke as the loving and supportive Warnie, Attenborough's "Jurassic Park" co-star Joseph Mazzello as Douglas, John Wood as the rude, obnoxious and condescending Christopher Riley who is put in his place by Joy, James Frain as Peter Whistler and Michael Denison as Harry Harrington. It also features great appearances in smaller roles from Robert Flemyng, Julian Fellowes, Peter Howell, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Julian Firth and, in his seventh and final appearance in one of his brother-in-law's films, Gerald Sim. As with Denison and Flemyng, it was also his final film appearance altogether. Hopkins was not nominated for Best Actor for this film but for "The Remains of the Day". In the early days of the Oscars, actors and actresses could be nominated for more than one performance and this is the first time that I have regretted that this system was abandoned as Hopkins deserved Best Actor nominations for both performances.Overall, this is a wonderful, extremely intelligent and deeply moving film which shows that love makes the world go around. At the end of the film, Lewis says that we love to know that we are not alone and I can't argue with that, whether it is romantic or platonic love.

I'm impressed with the volume of favorable reviews of this film. If you've gone this far, there's no reason at all for me to rehash the plot, the marvelous acting, or the directorial skills displayed here. If I may add something new to the reviews, I would like to say that it's a sad world where Anthony Hopkins is much more known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lechter in The Silence Of The Lambs franchise. I despised those movies, not because I don't like horrific flicks. Check out my other reviews if you think I'm a sob sister who just can't take it. But this is not a review of those films, so I'll proceed...What makes this film rise to greatness is it's portrayal of a man who thinks he has life, the universe, and everything, all wrapped up in a tidy intellectual package, and then finds himself doing and feeling things which force him to completely reevaluate the foundations of his life and faith. I can't help but think that there are many Christians who considered the subject of C. S. Lewis to be safe ground to venture through. Those who only know him through his Narnia stories, and the approval given for those films by their clergy, must have been quite surprised to find the man willing to break immigration laws to wed a somewhat bohemian woman for reasons of citizenship. I hope that those who first recoil at the truth of his life, grow as Lewis did as he faced the contradictions to his smug, self satisfied, view of himself and his faith. If you're a macho man who can't imagine himself capable of crying at a film, get ready to have the rug pulled out from under your pretension. This film hits notes of truth in sadness that are specifically male, and completely missing from 99.99% of cinematography. You will cry not because you are manipulated, but because you recognize yourself in this gentle intellectual facing the glory of love, the pain of unfair tragedy, and the responsibility that endures beyond the drama. Whoever you are, whatever you believe, watch this wonderful film. Share it with a loved one.

Richard Attenboroughs best directorial piece. This is the true story about C.S.Lewis...an above average English novelist. The year is 1951 when he meets a fan( a U.S.A. lady) played by Debra Winger. Lewis gives us the very strong impression..that he does not know how to..."do it". Well there was no internet then..!! He tries a weak kiss...but it doesn't really work... Winger puts on an ..."Ï know its very complex" act as she attempts to give reassurance. There is a huge stop sign for these fine people...and it says STOP. Winger develops terminal cancer..which is never a good sign......C.S.--- Decides to fall in love with this...USA....lady ...and marries her. It really is a fine film...even if the young kids wont get it. They will be looking for...Super--Heroes, or Will Ferrel. Is there a difference..???.....Both are not funny..... A good...movie,,,,,if you are over 32

Many years ago I read C.S. Lewis' wonderful book "A Grief Observed" - essentially his journal of his journey to rediscover his faith after the death from cancer of his wife Joy Gresham. I didn't deliberately steal the concept from Lewis, but perhaps he was at the back of my mind, since now, as a pastor, I often at funerals remind mourners that "grief is the price we pay for love." A concept similar to a central theme in both that book and this movie. This movie, which deals with the Lewis-Gresham relationship, surprised me in some ways. I had their relationship burned into my memory as a sudden and passionate thing, with Lewis being swept off his feet by this vivacious American divorcée. Instead, we see here a picture of a very cautious relationship that develops slowly. Lewis, the lifelong bachelor, meets Gresham and is clearly taken with her, but always maintains a distance. Even when they marry, it's - in Lewis' words - only "technically," so that Joy can claim his British citizenship as her own. The romance - the open acknowledgement of love - comes only after her diagnosis, when Lewis is forced to confront the fact that she gives his life meaning, and that he can't imagine life without her, and they're married "properly" - by clergy, before God and without hiding the fact. Then, of course, there is the remission of her cancer, its return and her death, which forces Lewis to re-evaluate everything he believes about God, in the end, coming back to the realization that pain is a part of happiness, and that God is not to be blamed for Joy's death, but thanked for her life.Although the movie is spiritual, it's not in your face religious. It's a human movie; a sensitive movie - in the end, it's very moving. There's a lot of theological reflection that takes place on the relationship between suffering and faith, pain and happiness and how God fits into the picture, but there's nothing here that demands that one be a believer to enjoy this. It's fascinating to see the evolution of Lewis, who - by the sudden love he feels for Joy - has to change virtually everything about his life; perhaps best summed up by the bedroom scene, in which, on the first night they share a room together, Joy asks him what his routine is. He describes it, but then admits that he doesn't know what to do now that she's part of it. She says something like "you do everything you did before, then you just lie down - and I'm here." That exchange summed up both the gentleness of the movie and the challenge for Lewis of re-evaluating his entire life and everything he believed. C.S. Lewis is best known, of course, as an author of children's books. Fewer people realize that he was also quite an accomplished theologian. Regardless of how you think of him, though, he is a fascinating man, and while this movie is certainly gentle rather than exciting and romantic rather than passionate, it provides a fascinating glimpse of his spiritual journey. One also shouldn't overlook the excellent performances from Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger in the lead roles. 8/10