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But to callBenedictiona biopic would be giving biopics a bit too much credit.
But then this wouldnt be a Terence Davies film.
He is one of the most expressive of directors, but hes always scratching away at something seemingly inexpressible.
Benedictionfeatures many such collage-like moments.
Sometimes they convey complicated ideas, sometimes they convey absurdly simple ones.
Its the bluntest, most basic of metaphors, but the director finds uncommon grace in it.
The images possess rhythm and beauty, and the Western tune on the soundtrack has a lilting grandeur.
There isnt a lazy note in the film.
Maybe thats whyBenediction, for all its great beauty, feels so stripped-down, so purposefully austere.
Save for one devastating moment near the end, Davies rarely moves in for close-ups.
He likes to keep his camera fixed at a slight distance, presenting his characters in their environments.
But hes not looking for realism or extraneous detail.
The actors often stand still, and deliver their lines with submerged tension.
Or maybe it has already collapsed.
A pall of sadness and regret hangs over everything, as it must have for Sassoon himself.
Even when the war isnt mentioned, it always seems to be there.
That searching, that lostness and melancholy, clearly reaches beyond one famous poet.
Why do you hate the modern world so much?
Sassoons son asks him at one point, late in life.
Because its younger than I am, the poet responds.
Its a good line a funny line.
