Thomas sheds light on Churchill’s marriage
While “Darkest Hour” celebrates Winston Churchill’s ability to rouse a warwary England to fight Nazi Germany, Kristin Scott Thomas knows the film is a celebration of a remarkable marriage as well.
Her Clementine Churchill was essential for the newly named Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman, in a widely praised performance) in 1940.
“Clemmie was sort of a motor for him. They had a very intense relationship,” Thomas, 57, said. “He said, without her, he wouldn’t have been the Winston Churchill we know.
“He would practice his speeches on her. She would give her opinion. She would tell him when he was behaving badly and get cross with him and be a kind of foil to him.
“It was the most amazing relationship. At times she was furious with him. He was the most impossible man to be married to! He spent too much money. He had these insane mood swings, which everyone knew about: Winston’s ‘black dog’ depressions.
“She also suffered from that,” the actress, named a dame last year, discovered. “She was treated for depression in her later life. They’d been through great trauma together.”
Churchill, with an American mother, was born into wealth and privilege. Before the 20th century had even begun, he was a famous war hero and author.
If he was marked for greatness, “Clemmie came from a very different background, of financial uncertainty,” Thomas said. “Her father had left her mother and three children when she was young. She was taken out of school because they felt schooling wasn’t necessary for a girl.
“In London, she was engaged to several important men with brains and education. With Winston, they brought up the best in each other.”
Like “Dunkirk” last summer, “Darkest Hour” revels in that distant time.
“It’s magical. People are fascinated by the romance of that period,” she said. “A whole generation of men were lost in the First World War, and people were horrified it would happen yet again. They were threatened. Yet we overcame terrible odds to come out victorious.
“We were a tiny little country being bullied by this huge power. With enormous courage and determination, we managed to remain the British Isles and not become ‘the Nazi Isles.’ It was a happy end. People like that story.”