Les ombres du coeur

A few years ago, I had the pleasure to correspond with Douglas Gresham. (FYI, Douglas is Joy's son -- thus C.S. Lewis step-son -- played by Joseph Mazzello in this film.) I had recently seen Shadowlands, and so I asked Douglas how "true to life" the picture was. He told me that some details (dates, places) had been changed slightly for obvious dramatic/story-telling reasons, but that the "spirit" and "feeling" of all the emotions portrayed in the movie were perfectly accurate. That's exactly what it all felt like, he said.

I own the movie (and the soundtrack), and have seen it a dozen times... and I still get teary-eyed at the scene where Douglas and Jack cry in each other's arms... this movie rates a perfect 10 from me; I can't find any fault with it at all.

Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger are perfectly cast in this beautiful film that contains what maybe the best and most haunting scenes in the history of motion pictures.

I didn't realize that there was almost no music until the third time I watched it. Hopkins delivers a career-best performance and Joseph Mazzello (as Winger's son) is terribly underbilled (his performance is superb), and I have no idea why Shadowlands didn't even land a Best Picture Academy Award nomination, it's certainly worth the price of the rental.

+ (GOOD THINGS) 1.) Death scene 2.) Chemistry between Hopkins and Winger 3.) Richard Attenborough's direction 4.) Hopkin's performance 5.) William Nicholson's script 6.) Winger's performance 7.) Joseph Mazzello's performance

• (BAD THINGS) 1.) Winger's accent

Total: 9.5/10

Shadowlands portrays Lewis as a naive old bachelor with little experience of life, sheltered if not positively shallow. But you tell me: when he was 10 his mother died; when he was in his late teens he entered the army, endured trench warfare, and was wounded; he saw his best friend killed in battle; honoring a pledge, he moved in with the friend's mother and sister and supported them for many years; he had a sexual relationship with his friend's mother, and although she was an extremely difficult woman he remained with her until her death; and during all these years his much-beloved brother Warnie was a binge drinker who often ended up face down in the gutter. Does this sound like a sheltered life to you? I can't speak for anyone but myself, but this strikes me as a pretty full life - he'd gone through more by the age of 25 than I have at 45. Lewis loved Joy Davidman, and she brought something important to his life. But to say he needed her to become a Real Human Being is condescension of the worst sort, and this aspect of Shadowlands's script is a kind of slander (perhaps a backhanded slap at Lewis's Christianity, which is "obviously" childish and unrealistic?).

C. S. Lewis is making a bit of a comeback with the "Chronicles Of Narnia" movie of late, but here's a film portrait of him made in 1993 starring the great British actor Anthony Hopkins.

To Christians, Lewis has always been a familiar name: one of the greatest and most well-known Christian apologists theologians ("Merre Christianity," "The Screwtape Letters,"etc.) and fiction (the Narnia series) writers of all time. But this film - no surprise - doesn't really deal with that: it's mainly a love story, the love he had toward his American wife, played by Debra Winger.

Being a Brit, the film takes place in England and features some wonderful landscapes of that great country. Hopkins exudes warmth in the role of Lewis and Winger is okay, New York City accent and all, as the American. I would have chosen someone else for the role, but Winger gets by.

Not to be forgotten is the fine job Edward Hardwicke did as "Warnie," Lewis' brother. Joseph Mazzello, one of the top child actors of the early '90s, is the Lewis' young boy. When father and son cry together at the end, it is one of the most touching scenes I've ever viewed on film.

It's a touching story, period, and if it doesn't get your eyes moistened at least once, check your pulse. The dialog in here is excellent, too. I particularly enjoyed the by-play of dry wit between the professors and Winger's various comments to her husband.

Nice films like this are unusual and should be treasured, as Lewis and his works are by so many people, Christian or non-Christian.

Shadowlands started out as a 1986 BBC television film. Actor Joss Ackland regarded playing CS Lewis as one of his favourite roles.

William Nicholson later adapted his own screenplay for a movie version directed by Richard Attenborough. This was a small chamber piece for a director better known for epics with a cast of thousands.

For Anthony Hopkins it was another opportunity to show he can do subtle and nuance after winning an Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs.

Inspired by the true story of dusty dry Oxford academic CS Lewis. Who fell in love with divorced American poet Joy Gresham in 1950s Britain.

It is a story of how a middle aged man, known for his children books. Turned friendship into a marriage of convenience (in order for Joy to remain in Britain.) To romance by which time she is dying of cancer.

Just as Hopkins did in 84 Charing Cross Road. It is a portrait of a hemmed in repressed grey 1950s Britain. In this case the upper echelons of academia which seemed to have been consisted of single old men.

The acting is top notch. The direction is retrained. It's a bit of a tearjerker.