Shadowlands (1993)

Director:

Richard Attenborough

Writers:

William Nicholson (screenplay)
William Nicholson (play)

Release Date:

14 January 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Based on a true story.

Plot:

C.S. Lewis, a world-renowned writer and professor, leads a passionless life until he meets spirited poet Joy Gresham.

Plot Keywords:

England | Oxford | Book | Love | Friend

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Julian Fellowes	...	Desmond Arding
Roddy Maude-Roxby	...	Arnold Dopliss
Michael Denison	...	Harry Harrington
Andrew Seear	...	Bob Chafer
Tim McMullan	...	Nick Farrell
John Wood	...	Christopher Riley
Andrew Hawkins	...	Rupert Parrish
Peter Howell	...	College President
Anthony Hopkins	...	Jack Lewis
Edward Hardwicke	...	Warnie Lewis
Robert Flemyng	...	Claude Bird
James Frain	...	Peter Whistler
Toby Whithouse	...	Frith
Daniel Goode	...	Lieven
Scott Handy	...	Standish

Runtime:

131 min | Canada:115 min (Ontario)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Ireland:G | South Korea:12 | Philippines:G | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-8 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:U | USA:PG (#32508) | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Christ Church Meadow, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Price Entertainment

Trivia:

Joy Gresham's husband was William Lindsay Gresham, an author whose best known work was made into a film with Tyrone Power, Nightmare Alley (1947).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Both the picture of the Golden Valley hanging in Jack's study, and the actual vista Jack and Joy find on their honeymoon are in fact the view of the Wye Valley from Symonds Yat - as the woman in the hotel says, the Golden Valley is that of the River Dore.

Quotes:

Harry: Christopher can scoff, Jack, but I know how hard you've been praying; and now God is answering your prayers.
C. S. Lewis: That's not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God, it changes me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "BBC Proms: Prom 2: Music from Great British Films (#1.7)" (2007)

What Shadowlands does, it does very well.

Many people seeing this film who are familiar with CS Lewis' writings will be tempted to be disappointed.

They should not be. In defense of this film and the method used to get the results, I have two things to say.

The first, and by far the most important, is that spiritual films are very difficult to make -- especially if one is speaking about something above one's head. That's why the life of Jesus is such a difficult subject and has met with so little success, at least from an artistic point of view.

Even Mel Gibson's Passion suffers from this to some extent. I would say his representation of the Passion reflect more of our times and what we consider to be important than on the ministry of Jesus. I may be wrong; I am not a believer so my opinion may not matter. But what is true is that no matter what your belief, spiritual man (Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and others) are very hard to make biographies of. In my opinion what they represented survived not because we have understanding, but because our instincts tell us they are what we should be. It is not a mind thing at all. AND FILMS REQUIRE OUR MINDS, at least to make them. It would take a soul equal to that of Christ to make a film about Christ.

To a far lesser extent, that is true of CS Lewis. His was a very complex theology dressed in wonderful parables. He had a great understanding of the parables and used the same technique. It does little good to discuss his theology in a film that is about 2 hours long. In fact, the viewer is sort of expected to know something about his writings and theology.

Which brings me to my second point. Perhaps it is because I am over 60 and not been brought up on Romances that I find this one so appealing. Here was a man that had lived his entire life one way, mostly in his mind, when he was confronted with feelings that demanded he reinterpret everything he believed. How many of us at his age could do what CS Lewis did?

Here was a man that thought one way and was forced to live another. What the mind is a very poor substitute for what our emotions understand. CS Lewis was very quick, I think, to recognize this and embraced it completely once he found it out.

Douglas Davidman Gresham (Joy Gresham's son), has said that the film is perhaps not completely factually correct, but the emotion representation is "spot on".

For me, no truer words could be spoken. What does it matter what details are missing, or changed because we have only 2 hours to tell a story? What matters is that we see the humanity of the man and his wonderful ability to embrace openly his new found emotions are what matters. And to put this into his spiritual structure was even more remarkable.

It's a good film. Enjoy it and pay attention. It requires an open heart and an open mind. Give it both.