Tom & Viv - nel bene, nel male, per sempre

Michael Hasting' play of the same title, was seen in New York at the Public theater in 1986. Edward Herrmann and Kate Nelligan played the leading roles. In a way, Mr. Herrmann bore a resemblance to Tom, something that in the film, William Dafoe, an excellent actor, stands in sharp contrast with what the real Eliot looked like. Having seen both the play and the film before, we took another look recently when it was shown on cable.

Brian Gilbert, the director, showed a sensitivity to the material. He had the advantage of using locales where the real Tom and Viv lived in England, thus producing an immediacy and intimacy that serves the film well.

Tom, was a man that loved his adopted country. He was a man in awe of the culture and traditions. In fact, he adopted them as they were his own. His entry into that world in which he wanted to belong came to him courtesy of Vivienne Haigh-Wood, an upper class young woman who had her share of physical problems that plays greatly in this story. Viv's problems exacerbated her marital problems with Tom, and her family. Evidently, her condition could have been helped if the doctors that treated her would have gone in another direction, as it's pointed out toward the end of the film by a physician that clearly understood her malady.

The film is worth a look because of the excellent Miranda Richardson's portrayal of Viv, a woman she captures well for our benefit. This is one of the best appearances by Ms. Richardson on the screen. William Dafoe's Tom gives the impression of being a complicated man. Rosemary Harris is another joy in the film as Viv's mother Rose. Tim Dutton and Nickolas Grace have some good moments in the film.

"Tom and Viv" will not disappoint because Brian Gilbert's fine direction.

After seeing this, I am no longer a TS Eliot fan. He knew the lady's nature, yet demonized her. Turned to religion, yet Dishonored the sanctity of marriage. Let a bit of blood stand between their love. Great poet, lousy man.

I hardly recognized Willem Dafoe in this biopic about T.S. Eliot and his mentally ill wife Vivian. His face was very long, thin, and gaunt; with every lean on his cane Dafoe managed to capture the weariness Eliot must have felt. Miranda Richardson plays his wife, his poetic inspiration, his chief critic; however she suffers from an illness given a ridiculously silly name and tries to kill herself often. Today she would have been put on prozac and given a spot on Ricki Lake. But since this was post WWI-era, we instead get to watch Viv wave a gun around and pour melted chocolate into a mailslot. The movie takes place for the most part in London, moving to America when Eliot takes a position at Harvard. The other characters, a priest, a family friend, and a few socialites, seemed cardboard and uninteresting. This is not a fast-moving film; at times the sound was terrible and the plot a little confusing. We're never really quite sure what is making Vivian nuts; but then, I guess that reflects real life. It made for a great rainy afternoon flick, especially for poetry lovers, art lovers, and biography lovers.

Anyone who has been captivated by the poetry of this great poet, and wondered about the man and the context in which such memorable verse was written, will want to see this film. It shows T S Eliot as a tormented man who is forced to make decisions about how to deal with the mental instability/illness of his wife. The performances are uniformly faultless, and the awful tragedy of mental illness in a marriage is chillingly depicted with deep sensitivity. The film challenges the viewer to judge Eliot as a man - Dafoe's performance brilliantly portrays the anguish of Eliot the man living in what apparently was an impossible marriage, and Eliot the public figure . The film also throws light on Eliot's fascination with the Church and the role it played in providing a still place in a world of personal mental turmoil. Highly recommended.

A reasonably well done and fairly well acted biopic of T. S. Eliot, the film is at times delightful to watch, but it is always lacking. The information it presents about Eliot feels insufficient, as his background feels uncomfortably unknown, and there is also no real indication of the setting and time of the film. It is a bit long too, not always be interesting, and really a bit ordinary at times. But it is still well acted and it does have something to say about the position of women in society. Harris and Richardson were both nominated for Oscars for their performance, but Dafoe is the one who really shines here.