Shadowlands

Hopkins and Attenborough in an emotional and feeling-filled work.

When I decided to see this movie, I knew little about the life of the writer C. S. Lewis, who I only knew from having written the books "The Chronicles of Narnia". And I confess that, in order to fully understand the film and also be able to write something about it, I had the curiosity and interest to read one thing or two about him. For example, I was very impressed by his deep connection to the university and his closeness to J. R. R. Tolkien, who is also the author of a great work of fiction. In fact, thinking about it, it is interesting to see how their works share a lot of points of contact, subtle similarities. But that's a thing for another review.

The film focuses on Lewis' life and, especially, on his love relationship with his American wife, Joy Gresham. Lewis was an academic, philosopher and theologian who left many works on these topics, and who unexpectedly decides to marry a recently divorced American, in a union that only later gave way to love between them. The film was inspired by a play, which in turn was inspired by the texts that Lewis wrote about what he experienced and felt.

The best thing about the film, for me, is the direction and the cast performance. The director, Sir Richard Attenborough, was known for his attention to detail, cinematography and choice of locations. Considered by many to be one of the great British film directors, this film leaves us with a work full of elegance and beauty, but which seems to be largely forgotten these days, undoubtedly deserving more attention.

The cast, in turn, is expertly led by Debra Winger and Sir Anthony Hopkins, a duo of actors of great quality and talent. Hopkins does deeply emotional work, in which we can see that he tried to employ a lot of feeling as well as intellect. Winger didn't impress me that much, but the great quality of her work is undeniable, especially in the moments when she plays with Hopkins or wit...