When it comes to arthouse cinema, a Terrence Davies film is an big occasion. After a successful film festival run that started last year at Toronto and included London, Vertigo Releasing are ready to kick off the cinematic promotion. Today they have released the film’s elegant official UK Trailer Davies’ beautiful new film Benediction.
The film is the biopic of poet Siegfried Sassoon and a life scarred by his experiences during the First World War. Sassoon was also a gay man, broken by the experiences and horror of war along with a vocal critic of the governments involvement of war. He would write the iconic anti-war poem ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth‘ he wrote in 1917. The film promises to chronicle Siegfried’s battles with his sexuality and the relationships with the men in his life.
Jack Lowden will play Siegfried during war time with Peter Capaldi the older the older Siegfried Sassoon.
A complex man who survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War, Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden / Peter Capaldi), a soldier decorated for his bravery on the battlefield, became a vocal critic of the government’s continuation of the war when he returned from service. Legendary still today for his poetry inspired by his experiences on the Western Front, he was adored by both members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London’s literary and theatre scene. He embarked on affairs with several high-profile men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality, whilst at the same time, broken by the horrors of war, his life’s journey became a quest for salvation.
The film also stars Jeremy Irvine, Calam Lynch, Simon Russell Beale and Kate Phillips.
Benediction is set for release in the UK and Ireland in the Spring, exact date still to be announced. Next month the film will make it’s Scottish premiere at Glasgow Film Festival 7th March [more info/book tickets]
