Alex Bell Essays - C. S. Lewis, British Films, Knights Bachelor

Alex Bell Huma 3303 November 21 , 2015 History of shadowlands William Nicholson was born in 1948 and is the original master mind behind the story of shadow lands. The film that we have today actually started off out as a play for television and a live stage show. It would be called the best play in 1990 and also won him a Tony Award. In 1994 Nicholson worked with Richard Attenborough in order to turn his stage play into a full film. The film itself was shot mostly in England in places such as Christ Church Meadow, Oxford, and Oxford shire. The real life story is supposed to show the coming together of Joy Gresham and C.S Lewis but like many retold stories some of the actual facts were skewed a bit for example in real life Joy Gresham had two sons but in the film she is only shown to have one. Personal Critique Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger, Julian Fellowes , Joseph Mazzello Director: Richard Attenborough Synopsis: Poet Joy Gresham travels to England with her son, who is a big C.S Lewis fan, in order to meet C.S Lewis himself. When they meet they realize that they are polar opposites but manage to start a glowing friendship. She divorces her husband that is in America and ask C.S Lewis, also known as Jack if he would agree to marry her in order for her to stay in England. After agreeing to marry her strictly so she may remain in the country, she becomes very ill and he discover that despite them not knowing each other very well he really loves her and wants to be with her. Unfortunately their love will be short lived. Lord Richard Attenborough's film brings together a great cast of actors that all are able to show off their acting abilities in this journey of love that brings together two unlikely people together. Sir Anthony Hopkins is a generational actor that adds on to his impressive acting resume with the portrayal of C.S Lewis. He has a natural and smooth voice that seems to help draw in the audience into wanting to listen to every word that he says. With this particular character he was able to combine both the intellectual brilliance and emotion that was required to really bring the story together. Debra Winger is the second star that the story circles around and her character in the Shadowlands appears to be tailor made for her. The Cleveland, Ohio native portrays the fiery Joy Gresham who refuses to take any lip from anyone regarding her life. Much like Hopkins her ability to be able to be both emotional and hardnosed added to the ch aracters appeal to the viewers. Shadow Lands which is based on the play by William Nicholso n is a great story that puts the brilliant acting styles together in a film to show that true love does not have to come from the typical channel that relationships are formed. Professional Critiques 1. Shadowlands' (PG) By Desson Howe Washington Post Staff Writer January 07, 1994 "Shadowlands" isn't just a three-hankie tearjerker. You'll need bulk linen to stay dry through this romance between Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. Yet this dramatized account of the C. S. Lewis-Joy Gresham af fair is more than manipulative. An engaging encounter between adults, it's also about lost childhoods, questions of God, intellect versus emotion, pain versus pleasure and other far-reaching themes. Perhaps most significantly, "Shadowlands" is illuminated from beginning to end by Hopkins. This may be the best thing he's ever done. The basic biographical details are true. Lewis, author of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," among many books, indeed met and fell in love with Gresham. But as screenwriter William Nicholson (who wrote the original BBC teleplay and Broadway stage play before this) emphasizes in press notes for the movie: "I have used parts of their story, not used othe r parts and imagined the rest." If those imaginings are all-too-neatly contrived, they're at least arranged along the classier lines of "84 Charing Cross Road" (another Brit-Yank encounter starring Hopkins), David Lean's "Brief Encounter" and "Turtle Diary," to name a few. On