Review: Benediction (2021) – The Fact-Based Screenplay

The troubled life of WWI soldier and acclaimed poet Siegfried Sassoon is the subject of Terence Davies’ affecting but ultimately unsatisfying biographical drama…

Director: Terence Davies

Screenwriter: Terence Davies

Synopsis: War hero and acclaimed poet Siegfried Sassoon returns from WWI and renounces the war. He spends the remainder of his life struggling to find peace following the horrors of combat.

Review

While there is much to admire about Davies’ film, the overriding feeling after watching Benediction is one of disappointment at an opportunity rather wasted. The film has many strong and memorable elements but the way in which it is presented means it lacks cohesion and – as a result – heart.

It could be argued that this is really two films. In the first, Sassoon turns against the war and uses his poetry to protest against the fighting. Here, much of the dramatic heavy-lifting is done by Sassoon’s poetry, which is read over actual newsreel footage of the atrocities of WWI. There are also some beautifully crafted and harrowing scenes that show us the realities of war, mental and physical.

However, these sit a little uncomfortably alongside the second strand, which concerns Sassoon’s struggle with being gay at a time when this drove men to lead lives in the shadows. Unfortunately, this part of the story is somewhat unsatisfying, as Sassoon seems to be mostly attracted to handsome men with acerbic wit but little to suggest they might become loving partners and confidantes. The men also rotate through Sassoon’s life so quickly that it’s hard to become invested in his relationships. They simply trade a few high-brow barbs and move on to pastures new.

The most emotionally touching relationship by far is with fellow war poet Wilfred Owen (an excellent Matthew Tennyson), who Sassoon meets while being treated for a mental disorder in a Scottish military hospital (where he’s sent to avoid a court martial following his anti-war comments). This brings the two threads of the story together, as Owen is due to return to the front. However, this is a brief interlude in the story that ends with a simple statement that Owen died in combat. We’re then transported into high society, where Sassoon is quickly beguiled and then betrayed by the flinty musical theatre star Ivor Novello (a caddish Jeremy Irvine).

While the aim of the film is to show us that Sassoon failed to find peace in any aspect of his life, unfortunately the overall effect is one of fragmentation. This is not helped by the portrayal of Sassoon as both a younger man (played by Jack Dowden) and in later years (by Peter Capaldi). While both actors do a good job, especially Dowden, the transition is an awkward one. Again, a more coherent narrative might have offered a richer look at his life.

Frustratingly, the film also leaves certain questions about Sassoon unanswered. For example, what impact did his turn to Catholicism have on his life? The film begins with the older Sassoon mulling a conversion to Catholicism and getting a blessing (the benediction of the title) from a Catholic priest, suggesting a cleansing or the first step on journey to peace. But this is not fully addressed. Also, what were Sassoon’s feelings about WWII? Seeing history tragically repeat itself only 20 year later, did he rail against that war, too? Finally, what were the wider reverberations of Sassoon’s anti-war sentiment? Other than getting into hot water with the military and getting saved by his high-up connections, there doesn’t seem to have been many implications, which is rather strange given the strong patriotic sentiment in Britain at that time.

Overall, there is much unresolved here, which is perhaps the point, and the film certainly presents issues that are (sadly) still relevant today. However, while it has much to savour and admire, Benediction fails to really come together into a satisfying portrait of what was clearly a haunted and gifted man.

Go further

For more on Sassoon, here are a couple of interesting articles:

Benediction trailer: