Shadowlands (1993 film)
{{For|the television film|Shadowlands (1985 film)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Shadowlands
| image = Shadowlands ver2.jpg
| caption = UK theatrical release poster
| director = Richard Attenborough
| producer = Richard Attenborough
Brian Eastman
| screenplay = William Nicholson
| based_on = {{Based on|Shadowlands|William Nicholson}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
| music = George Fenton
| cinematography = Roger Pratt
| editing = Lesley Walker
| studio = Price Entertainment
Spelling Films International
| distributor = United International Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1993|12|25|United States|1994|3|4|United Kingdom|df=y}}
| runtime = 131 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = $22 million
| gross = $52 million{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|page=M-56|date=October 17, 1994|title=Top 100 grossers worldwide, '93-94}}
}}
Shadowlands is a 1993 British biographical drama film about the relationship between academic C. S. Lewis (played by Anthony Hopkins) and Jewish American poet Joy Davidman (played by Debra Winger), her death from cancer, and how this challenged his Christianity. It is loosely based on Lewis's own account in his book A Grief Observed.
The film was directed by Richard Attenborough with a screenplay by William Nicholson based on his 1985 television film and 1989 stage play. The 1985 script began life as I Call It Joy written for Thames Television by Brian Sibley and Norman Stone. Sibley later wrote the book, Shadowlands: The True Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. The film won the 1993 BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. The film marked the last film appearance of English actor Michael Denison.
Plot
In the 1950s, the reserved, middle-aged bachelor C. S. Lewis is an Oxford University academic at Magdalen College and author of The Chronicles of Narnia series of children's books. He meets the married American poet Joy Davidman Gresham and her young son Douglas on their visit to England, not yet knowing the circumstances of Gresham's troubled marriage.
What begins as a formal meeting of two very different minds slowly develops into a feeling of connection and love. Lewis finds his quiet life with his brother Warnie disrupted by the outspoken Gresham, whose uninhibited behaviour sharply contrasts with the rigid sensibilities of the male-dominated university. Each provides the other with new ways of viewing the world.
When Joy is diagnosed with cancer, deeper feelings surface and the two of them marry. Lewis' beliefs are tested as his wife tries to prepare him for her death.
Cast
{{castlist|
- Anthony Hopkins as C. S. "Jack" Lewis
- Debra Winger as Joy Davidman
- Edward Hardwicke as Warren "Warnie" Lewis
- Joseph Mazzello as Douglas Gresham
- James Frain as Peter Whistler
- Julian Fellowes as Desmond Arding
- Michael Denison as Harry Harrington
- John Wood as Christopher Riley
- Peter Firth as Dr. Craig
- Tim McMullan as Nick Farrell
- Robert Flemyng as Claude Bird
}}
Reception
=Critical reception=
Shadowlands received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 97% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 8.02/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Thanks to brilliant performances from Debra Winger and especially Anthony Hopkins, Shadowlands is a deeply moving portrait of British scholar C.S. Lewis's romance with American poet Joy Gresham."{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shadowlands |title=Shadowlands (1993) |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=3 December 2019}}
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "intelligent, moving and beautifully acted."{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=7 January 1994 |title=Shadowlands |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shadowlands-1994 |work=Chicago Sun-Times}}
Rita Kempley of The Washington Post described it as "a high-class tear-jerker" and a "literate hankie sopper" and added, "William Nicholson's screenplay brims with substance and wit, though it's essentially a soap opera with a Rhodes scholarship . . . [Winger] and Hopkins lend great tenderness and dignity to what is really a rather corny tale of a love that was meant to be."{{cite news |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/shadowlandspgkempley_a0a3fe.htm |title = Shadowlands (PG) |newspaper = The Washington Post|date = 7 January 1994 }}
In Variety, Emanuel Levy observed, "It's a testament to the nuanced writing of William Nicholson ... that the drama works effectively on both personal and collective levels ... Attenborough opts for modest, unobtrusive direction that serves the material and actors ... Hopkins adds another laurel to his recent achievements. As always, there's music in his speech and nothing is over-deliberate or forced about his acting ... Coming off years of desultory and unimpressive movies, Winger at last plays a role worthy of her talent."{{cite news |last = Weissberg |first = Jay |date = 2 December 1993 |url = https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117902067.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 |title = Review: Shadowlands |work = Variety }}
=Box office=
Shadowlands grossed $25.8 million in the United States and Canada and then grossed £4,862,314 in the United Kingdom, which surpassed The Piano as the highest-grossing period drama in the UK.{{Mojo title|shadowlands|Shadowlands}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Screen International|date=22 November 1996|page=39|title=Top Period Dramas in the UK}} Worldwide it grossed $52 million.
Awards and honours
Year-end lists
- 3rd – James Berardinelli, ReelViews{{cite web|last=Berardinelli|first=James|url=https://preview.reelviews.net/comment/010295.html|title=Rewinding 1994 -- The Year in Film|date=2 January 1995|website=ReelViews|access-date=19 July 2020}}
- Top 10 (not ranked) – George Meyer, The Ledger{{cite news|last=Meyer|first=George|date=30 December 1994|title=The Year of the Middling Movie|newspaper=The Ledger|page=6TO}}
- Honorable mention – Dan Craft, The Pantagraph{{cite news|last=Craft|first=Dan|date=30 December 1994 |title=Success, Failure and a Lot of In-between; Movies '94|newspaper=The Pantagraph|page=B1}}
Changes from the stage play or earlier television production
The stage play opens with Lewis giving a talk about the mystery of suffering, whereas this film intersperses a similar talk several times throughout the narrative. The television film opens with Lewis giving a radio broadcast about the sanctity of marriage.
In the stage play as in reality, Lewis and Davidman honeymoon in Greece. In the film, on their honeymoon they look for the "Golden Valley" in Herefordshire, England, as depicted in a painting hanging in Lewis' study.
As in the stage play, though not the earlier television film, Joy has only one son. In the original television film, as in reality, Joy had two sons, Douglas and David.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0108101|Shadowlands}}
- {{Mojo title|shadowlands|Shadowlands}}
- {{rotten-tomatoes|1048267-shadowlands|Shadowlands}}
- [http://artsandfaith.com/t100/2005/entry.php?film=70 Shadowlands at Arts&Faith.com]
{{Richard Attenborough}}
{{William Nicholson}}
{{BAFTA Best British Film}}
{{C. S. Lewis}}
Category:1990s biographical drama films
Category:British biographical drama films
Category:Remakes of British films
Category:Biographical films about writers
Category:British films based on plays
Category:Films set in the 1950s
Category:Films set in the University of Oxford
Category:Best British Film BAFTA Award winners
Category:Films directed by Richard Attenborough
Category:Films scored by George Fenton
Category:Films produced by Richard Attenborough
Category:Films with screenplays by William Nicholson
Category:Cultural depictions of C. S. Lewis