Benediction
137 MINUTES, IN CINEMAS 20 MAY STARRING: Jack Lowden, Jeremy Irvine, Peter Capaldi DIRECTOR: Terence Davies
THE PLOT:
Traumatised WW1 poet Siegfried Sassoon (Lowden) receives treatment in Edinburgh, before exploring new friendships and romantic entanglements – colliding with the bohemian Bright Young Things community of 1920s London.
WHAT’S RIGHT WITH IT?
The reliably impressive Lowden (Calibre) ably holds the centre of what eventually becomes a rather sprawling biopic.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT?
Veteran director Davies’ interest in Sassoon’s conversion to Catholicism – with Capaldi playing the poet as an older man – feels like one element too many.
VERDICT:
An ambitious drama that has won plenty of champions.