Noted author and scholar finds love, then must endure its loss...Noted author and scholar finds love, then must endure its loss...Noted author and scholar finds love, then must endure its loss...
- Won 2 BAFTA Awards
- 3 wins total
Max Harvey
- Radio Announcer
- (voice)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Featured reviews
10jmkray-1
Yes, an accurate portrayal
This was a very faithful presentation of Lewis's life in the mid-50's. The dialogue on theology and the banter with his follow colleagues was exceptionally good. Michael White's book, "C.S. Lewis: Creator of Narnia" deals with this time frame in a very parallel way. Joss Ackland's acting was superb in catching the unemotional Lewis. The movie took great pains to be presented in an accurate English setting. The development of a strong bond between "Jack" (his preferred name) Lewis and Douglas Gresham, Joy's son from her previous marriage, was enjoyable to watch. The movie did avoid the distasteful element of "Warnie" Lewis's (Jack's older brother) drinking problem, but it would not have moved the story on, so it is best left out.
CS Lewis with class
The 1990s film with Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger is rightly showered with praise, and I enjoyed it very much, but this TV original is just as good, and in some ways, more appropriately cast. Claire Bloom isn't a brash Joy, but she is still confident and throwing her cap at her favourite author (played by Joss Ackland in one of his best performances).
Quieter, calmer, and less emotional than the Attenborough film this may be, but it does justice to what is a marvellous play full of meaningful dialogue. You'll still cry to this version, but perhaps you won't have the musical prompts to set you off.
There's room for both - and having seen this on stage, I would say that the Ackland/Bloom one is slightly more faithful. But they're both excellent.
Quieter, calmer, and less emotional than the Attenborough film this may be, but it does justice to what is a marvellous play full of meaningful dialogue. You'll still cry to this version, but perhaps you won't have the musical prompts to set you off.
There's room for both - and having seen this on stage, I would say that the Ackland/Bloom one is slightly more faithful. But they're both excellent.
Missing key theme
Lewis wrote that his marriage to Joy brought him a new appreciation of the body and of physical pleasures. He emphasized this pleasure, in fact. Apparently, Joy and her love removed all traces of his prudish inhibitions. The BBC film glosses over this theme almost entirely. We get the impression that the couple only played Scrabble. The film also shortchanges the theological exertions that Lewis underwent to regain his faith after Joy's death. Otherwise, I must say, a splendid film in its acting and photography. It has my enthusiastic, if limited, recommendation!
10fortean2
Beautiful, magical, intelligent, thought-provoking
Easily one of my favourite dramatic TV films, in many ways beautiful yet sad, heart-warming and thought-provoking, this is a superb dramatisation of a few years in the life of C.S. Lewis and his relationship with Joy Davidman. I found it to be incredibly absorbing with excellent and 'realistic' dialogue and situations. It all seemed very 'real', yet there were also 'magical' moments that almost leave you breathless with delight. Ackland and Bloom as the central characters were excellent, as were the supporting cast. It's one of those dramas that I find hard to criticise, simply because, for me, there is NOTHING to be criticised, it just works so well on so many levels.
Very highly recommended.
Very highly recommended.
Different from the later version
Even though the Hopkins and Winger version had a larger budget, the BBC TV version is just as good. Even though we the issue of cancer is dealt with longer in the TV version, Hopkin portrays C.S. Lewis in more of, may I say, an American way. Both films portray C.S. Lewis with a British actor, but here, we actually forget from time to time that this is not C.S. Lewis and actually I an actor portraying him. This version mentions more about the Magician's Nephew and not the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe more like Hopkin's version. Both include the crying moment between Lewis and his step son up in the attic. Both are powerful and very different. Each is enjoyable if you are a fan of C.S. Lewis.
Did you know
- TriviaJoss Ackland and Claire Bloom also both appear in Queenie (1987), Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1995), Easter Tales (2000), and notably provide voices in the animated film The Princess and the Goblin (1991), based on the novel by George MacDonald. C.S. Lewis was greatly influenced by MacDonald's fantasy writings and spiritual insights.
- Quotes
[first lines]
C.S. Lewis: Why am I so afraid? I never knew that love could hurt so much. Yet I love you, and all I want is to love you. Beyond every door, I hear your voice saying to me, 'This is only the land of shadows. Real life hasn't begun yet.'
- Alternate versions92-minute television version and 73-minute "abridged" version are available on DVD. The abridged version includes on-screen titles such as "January 1950" and "Two Years Later" at various points in the film. The time difference is made of cuts at the beginning of the film. 92-minute version opens with Jack at the college with a voice-over and the camera passing through a wardrobe. Another long section of cuts start when Jack is walking and reading Joy's letter, the letter is longer and includes a poem. Jack then goes into a classroom and lectures, and later returns home for tea with Warnie. After Joy and Jack's first meeting, scenes of them walking and talking around Oxford is longer. She arrives at his house with her boys, and they play chess with Warnie. Other cut scenes include Jack at a pub with his friends, and finding Douglas reading in the attic for the first time. Jack also tells Joy about when his mother died. And Joy goes to the college for a party and meets Jack's colleagues. The Christmas they spend together also includes a scene of a toast before they leave. Another section of cuts show Jack's life at the college (montage partly included in the opening credits of the abridged version), more scenes of him speaking to students, and talking to Christopher. In a final cut scene, the gardener asks Jack to come outside and he is surprised to find Joy has returned to England. Joy moves into her new house at the 36 minute mark in the full version and at the 17 minute mark of the abridged version, no cuts noted after that.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Remembers...: William Nicholson Remembers... Sweet as You Are (2025)
- SoundtracksAbide With Me
(uncredited)
Lyrics by Henry F. Lyte
Music by William H. Monk
Performed by Norman Rutherford
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