Benediction
Another in a series of not-so-disguised autobiographies, about on a par with A QUIET PASSION, though maybe not as rigorously focused. Very episodic, with long passages of arch, backbiting dialogue, a lot of which is funny and adds to the sense of a kind of British arts-world historical pageant, with <PERSON> at its center; the tonal shifts are deliberate and ambitious but still jarring, and ditto the integration of ragged archival footage into the gleaming period-piece visual scheme. I’d read about the final scene and it still worked me over pretty good - a great piece of acting wedded to a disarming and mournful stretch of poetry. 594