Themes: Marriages of Convenience, Battling Illness, Dying Young
Main Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger, Edward Hardwicke, Michael Denison, John Wood
Release Year: 1993
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
This lavishly mounted adaptation of the play by William Nicholson tells the true story of the doomed love affair between novelist and noted Christian scholar C.S. Lewis and a Jewish-American poet. Anthony Hopkins stars as C.S. "Jack" Lewis, an Oxford professor and successful author of the Chronicles of Narnia series of children's fantasy novels. A confirmed bachelor, Jack's existence is an inward life of the mind. Somewhat detached from the world, his only social outlet is evenings out at a local pub discussing philosophy and religion with his fellow lecturers. Jack has been corresponding with a bluntly intelligent American woman, Joy Gresham (Debra Winger), who arrives to visit him, with her young son Douglas (Joseph Mazzello) in tow. She tells Jack that she has actually fled from an abusive marriage and plans to divorce, and Jack astonishes friends and family by agreeing to a platonic marriage with Joy so that she can obtain British citizenship. As their friendship deepens and Joy discovers that she has a terminal illness, the relationship between Joy and Jack becomes a genuine romance, and their marriage turns into a real commitment. Shadowlands (1993) had previously been filmed as a well-regarded British television movie in 1985 starring Joss Ackland as Lewis. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the best qualities of Richard Attenborough's adaptation of William Nicholson's play is the way it doesn't feel like a play at all. This is an excellent quality to possess, especially in a film that is in part about a middle-aged man discovering the joy of being alive. About halfway in, Winger's Joy takes Hopkins' Jack on vacation, a sequence shot in typically lush Attenborough fashion but made truly memorable by the inexperienced Jack's joy upon discovering that he can order cocktails sent up to his room. Extremely well-acted by both leads (note the way Winger slowly absorbs English inflections in her speech the more time her character spends there), Shadowlands steers away from the maudlin territory typically inhabited by doomed romances, emphasizing instead the emotional journeys of each character, both in terms of their time together and apart. Winger subtly plays a woman whom life has continually disappointed, and who is faced with the prospect of leaving it just as her fortunes have turned around. Hopkins' character is one who's come to think he's solved life's mysteries and must suddenly admit how little he knows. Teamed with Attenborough's restrained direction, they create a deeply memorable drama of unexpected renewal. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Peter Firth - Dr. Craig; Joseph Mazzello - Douglas Gresham; Roger Ashton-Griffiths - Dr. Eddie Monk; Sylvia Barter - Woman in Bookshop; Norman Bird - Taxi Driver Witness; Julian Fellowes - Desmond Arding; Julian Firth - Father John Fisher; Robert Flemyng - Claude Bird; Andrew Hawkins - Rupert Parrish; Peter Howell - College President; Pat Keen - Mrs. Young; Howard Lew Lewis - Tea Room Waiter; Roddy Maude-Roxby - Arnold Dopliss; Pauline Melville - Committee Chairwoman; John Quentin - Station Acquaintance; Ninka Scott - Lecture Committee; Gerald Sim - Superintendent Registrar; Walter Sparrow - Fred Paxford; Alan Talbot - College Porter; Chris Williams - Julian; Karen Lewis - Hotel Receptionist; Giles Oldershaw - Marcus; Andrew Seear - Bob Chafer; Lucy Boulting; Abigail Harrison - Staff Nurse; James Frain - Peter Whistler; Tim McMullan - Nick Farrell; Sophie Stanton - Lecture Committee; Terry Rowley - Registrar; Charles Simon - Barker
Credit
Michael Lamont - Art Director, Diana Hawkins - Co-producer, Penny Rose - Costume Designer, Patrick Clayton - First Assistant Director, Michael Stevenson - First Assistant Director, Richard Attenborough - Director, Lesley Walker - Editor, Terence A. Clegg - Executive Producer, George Fenton - Composer (Music Score), Simon Kaye - Musical Direction/Supervision, Norma Webb - Makeup, Michael Roberts - Camera Operator, Stuart Craig - Production Designer, Roger Pratt - Cinematographer, Richard Attenborough - Producer, Brian Eastman - Producer, Stephenie McMillan - Set Designer, Brian Warner - Special Effects, Jonathan Bates - Sound Editor, William Nicholson - Screenwriter, William Nicholson - Play Author
