Movie Review: 'Benediction'

Benediction

Directed by Terrence Davies

Starring

Jack Lowden as Young Siegfried

Peter Capaldi as Older Siegfried

Jeremy Irvine as Ivor Novello

Simon Russell Beale as Robbie Ross

Kate Phillips as Young Hester Gatty

Gemma Jones Older Hester Gatty

Benediction and empathy

Benediction is a movie that is indirectly about empathy. Creating empathy is what director Terence Davies intends but the film has a main character who defies our desire to empathize with him. Siegfried Sassoon, the famed ‘War Poet,’ whose work aimed to expose the human cost of war, isn’t interested in our empathy. Sassoon's arc in Benediction is from nearly dying a martyr, to bitterness, and finally to a man seeking the illusion of comfort in religious salvation.

Benediction is directly about the life of Siegfried Sassoon. And Benediction is indirectly about how Terence Davies builds the case for Sassoon’s late in life search for salvation. Having spent his life as a disillusioned hedonist and then a self-closeted homosexual, you might think that the Catholic Church is the last place Siegfried Sassoon might turn. That is unless you see Benediction which makes the case for how a lifetime of bitterness pushed Siegfried toward spiritual salvation as a last resort.

Where to Begin

We meet Siegfried Sassoon through his righteously angry poetry. The film begins by portraying the horrors of World War 1 scored to Sassoon’s blistering depictions of the suffering of soldiers. Being from a rich family, Sassoon is given command over a battalion, though one on the front lines. He commands the poor, uneducated souls treated as cannon fodder for the defense of the state. Seeing these men die so brutally changes Siegfried forever. Caring for these men fosters Siegfried's antipathy toward war but it is not his only motivation against the war.

Before Siegfried went to war, his older brother died there. This and his own experience in war fueled his polemical poetry. Returning from World War 1, Siegfried made plans to publish his work and out himself as a conscientious objector. Doing so would be a court martial offense punishable by firing squad. A friend of Siegfried’s family stepped in to prevent him from publishing his work, saving the life that Siegfried intended to give for his soldiers.

He couldn't seem to die

Unable to die a martyr, Siegfried was sent to a hospital in Scotland, preventing him from publishing his fiery anti-war poems. In hospital, Sassoon again took his life in his hands by coming out as a homosexual to his therapist. For those who don’t know, England criminalized homosexuality until 1967. Again, Siegfried survived though the experience jaded him and drove him toward a life in the pursuit of empty pleasures.

Though his poetry remained a a vital and harrowing cry against state sponsored war, after World War 1 had ended, Siegfried's private affairs played out with a carelessness that comes from being a man of wealth. Siegfried openly carried on a relationship with one of England’s most famous actors, Ivor Novello. When that relationship ended he moved on to another, even more flamboyant lover in Robbie Ross.

Tragic Relationships

Siegfried's relationships with men were tragic. Novello broke his heart and Ross openly cheated on him. Siegfried used a cloak of cynical humor to shield himself from the pain of these relationships. That cynicism eventually curdled into bitterness. That bitterness became the toxic foundation beneath Siegfried's choice to marry a woman whom he convinced that he loved her, even as he maintained sexual relationships with men.

Hester Gatty became Siegfried's wife despite his open sexual relationships with men before and during their marriage. Siegfried is caring early on in his marriage, and proud to become a father when he does. The dual narrative of Benediction however, reveals the empty lie of the pride and comfort he took in marriage and fatherhood. This was not domestic bliss but a cover story for the ongoing lies of Siegfried's troubled life.

Late in Life

Shifting to the future finds Siegfried racked with anxiety and bitterness. Sassoon spent his life finding no satisfaction in hedonism or forced domesticity. He finally turns to religion. It’s a bitter irony that a brilliant gay man would seek salvation in the Catholic Church. A gay man looking for comfort in the Catholic Church of the early 1960s is like the canary seeking the comfort of a cat.

Despite how Siegfried bitterly rejected the world around him, his life, as depicted in Benediction, compels us care about him. Director Terence Davies foregrounds Sassoon’s anguish at how a brilliant and rebellious young man came to embrace conformity only to find more emptiness. It also highlights how religious salvation is often the lie we tell ourselves when the rest our lies have taken their toll.

Beauty exposes the anguish

Juxtaposing the weighty sadness of Siegfried’s bone-deep sorrow is Terence Davies' lush production design. The sets of Benediction provide a comforting setting for the chilly soulless pursuits of pleasure that drive Siegfried to reject human connection so severely that only a relationship to God might comfort him.

Terence Davies is fearless in courting and manipulating our empathy for Siegfried via his remarkable poetry. Siegfried's poetry boldly depicted the suffering of war and refused to allow those who heard them to keep their distance from the tragedy. His noble pursuit for the end of war is similar to the noble way in which he first pursued love. Though he may have been a hedonist, he was capable of love and equally capable of deep hurt.

An intimate, internal journey

It is these accumulated hurts that slowly curdled into a cold detachment from everyone and everything. From relationships with men to his marriage to being a father, Sassoon detached and distanced himself to great despair. All of that detachment consumed Siegfried until his only choice was the illusion of salvation. That is incredibly sad and it's incredible how well Benediction tells the story of this intimate, internal journey.

Benediction arrives in theaters on Friday, June 3rd.